Growing Pains
by RosesandThorns666
Summary: A collection of one-shots featuring Raphael, Amelia, and the rest of their unusual family as their new addition grows from a baby to a young adult. Sequels to "Secrets" and "Changes". Rating now changed to M. Please R&R!
1. Uncle Mimi

**Story Summary:** A collection of one-shots featuring Raphael, Amelia, Daisy, and the rest of their unusual family as their new addition grows from a baby to a young adult. Sequels to "Secrets" and "Changes". Please R&R!

 **Chapter Summary:** Raphael gets an early awakening, Amelia is recovering from the flu, and Michelangelo gets some special bonding time with Daisy.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, guys! I'm back, as promised, with more Raphelia content (I just couldn't resist...), now if you don't know who Amelia or Daisy are, I suggest you read both of my previous fics featuring them to learn how Raphael and Amelia met, fell in love and the unusual way in which they had their first child. The stories are called _**Secrets**_ and _**Changes**_. I won't be updating this daily like I have with previous fics because I don't really have the time to write a new chapter every day. Also, I wanted to do something different. You guys get to choose what the next chapter is about. At the bottom of this first chapter, there are three prompts for you guys to choose from which I got from a random word generator, and all you need to do is leave a review to say which word you want me to use as a prompt for the next chapter, and the one with the most votes will win. I'll try and get one chapter up a week, but I've already got a mountain of fanfiction work to do for TMNT as it is, so I may not be able to manage once a week. I'll do my best.

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Uncle Mimi ~**

Raphael had to fight the urge to groan as the sound of his baby's cries came through the baby monitor on his side of the bed.

His exhausted wife lay sleeping beside him, her beautiful face hidden from his view by her thick, honey-blonde curls which had fallen in front of it as she'd rolled over in her slumber. Not wanting her to be disturbed, Raphael eased himself out of bed, covered her exposed arms with the duvet, and then he reached for his bandanna, which sat with his other gear on the Ottoman at the end of their bed.

This particular winter was incredibly cold, and the lair, even though it could be easily heated, was very cold that morning as well, so the hulking turtle tried not to shiver in the cold of the room as he moved to Amelia's side to check on her, since she was just recovering from a bad case of the flu. Then, he went to go and tend to their ten-month-old baby, who was obviously more than ready to start her day.

As he entered Daisy's room, he found the baby sitting up in her crib, rubbing her tearful eyes with her blanket strewn about her legs. She was dressed in a white onesie with pink bunnies on it that Amelia had made for her, and Raphael couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked. Franklin, the ageing turtle plushie, was laid where his daughter had been sleeping, and Raphael could see where she'd been nibbling on him during the night.

"Hey..." He said softly, approaching his daughter's crib, "Morning, little flower."

She reached for him tearfully, which broke his heart. He hated hearing her cry or seeing her looking so forlorn. This beautiful little girl meant everything to him, and as he carefully lifted her into his arms, he felt his heart pang in his chest, just as it did every time he held her. Daisy pressed into him, trying to wrap her chubby little arms around his broad neck with an urgency her father had never known before.

Sitting in the rocking chair with her, Raphael secured her in his arms before he started to slowly rock back and forth with her, hushing her and pressing loving kisses to her head. Daisy cuddled up to him, sniffling pitifully and murmuring to herself as she steadily calmed down in her daddy's embrace. Raphael appreciated these moments, more than anyone would ever realise, because it was just him and his little girl, with no-one to interrupt. He loved just sitting with her by himself, whether they were having a cuddle like this, or he was reading to her, or they were playing. Amelia tried to give them this one-on-one time because she knew how important it was to Raphael to share these precious moments with their baby.

"Now, ain't you just a sight for sore eyes this morning?" He spoke to her so gently, "You sleep okay, beautiful?"

Daisy sniffled, pulling back to gaze up at her father.

"Ba-Ba..." She hummed, leaning into him once more before pressing her forehead to his cheek in a tender gesture.

He loved hearing her talk to him, even though her language was very limited. At this point in time, she could only address him and Amelia with an attempt at a name, and every other communication was made with various gurgles, cries or other sounds. It was great when she started babbling because everyone would talk to her as though they were having a real conversation with her, and sometimes she'd babble excitedly, or laugh, which would bring a smile to everyone's face, without exception. Even her Uncle Vern loved to hear her talking.

After rocking with her for a little while, Raphael wasted no time in getting her into a clean diaper and into a clean onesie. This time, she was in a lilac one with little white stars on it, and he then picked out a hat to take downstairs with them, just in case it got cold enough for her to need to wear it. Picking up the new multicoloured blanket he'd knitted for her a few weeks before, and picking up the plushie that sat in her crib, Raphael then lifted Daisy into his arms, and the two headed towards the living area, where Leonardo was already sitting. It was now six in the morning, so it was far from unusual to see Leonardo at the breakfast table at this time.

"Morning, Leo." Raphael said, setting the blanket and plushie on the arm of the couch before moving to the breakfast table.

"Morning, Raph." Leonardo replied as he got out of his seat to greet his niece, "Morning, Daisy."

Daisy squealed with delight at the sight of her uncle, and Raphael didn't hesitate before handing her across to him for a cuddle. Leonardo lifted her into his arms and brought her close to him, kissing her forehead gently as his lips curved into a loving smile. Raphael started to get Daisy's cereal ready with a grin on his face as he heard Leonardo blowing raspberries on the baby's cheek. She was laughing softly as he did so, and then Raphael heard what could only be described as a sweet, loving gurgle as Daisy then leant closer to her uncle to try and kiss him.

"Did you sleep well, Raph?" Leonardo asked, moving to sit Daisy in her high chair, "Is Amelia better?"

"She's getting there." Raphael answered as he filled Daisy's sippy cup with fruit juice, "She had a real bad headache last night, but I gave her some painkillers and put her in bed. So, I managed to get some rest for the first time in two weeks."

The large turtle then moved to where his daughter sat in her high chair, pulled up his own seat, and started to feed her the cereal. Leonardo went to make his brother some coffee, which Raphael had grown accustomed to drinking since he became a father. Having virtually no energy seemed to make the hulking turtle gain a particular fondness for coffee.

"Ahh-woh!"

At the sound of the baby's voice, Leonardo turned to see her happily chewing her cereal... With her mouth open. Wincing, he turned back to the coffee maker, listening to the sound of Raphael gathering more cereal onto the spoon for Daisy to eat.

"Yeah... I bet it's yummier than it looks." Raphael's voice was quiet, "Come on, kiddo. Open up."

Leonardo placed the mug of coffee in front of Raphael, who thanked him with a grateful smile while he continued to feed the baby, who sat bouncing in her seat as she eagerly waited for her next mouthful of food. Before the blue-clad turtle could sit down, however, he saw his father entering the living area from his bedroom and moved straight away to prepare some tea for him.

"Morning, Dad." Raphael said with a grin, earning a warm smile in return from his ageing father.

"Good morning, Raphael." Splinter replied, moving to press a kiss to the happy baby's head, "Good morning, Daisy-Mae."

"Bah!" Daisy cried, causing milk to dribble down her chin.

Raphael grimaced and went to wipe her mouth with the bib she was wearing, before getting some more cereal onto the spoon for her to eat. His warm green eyes met his little girl's big, deep blue ones, and his heart melted. It didn't go missed by Leonardo or Splinter, who shared bright smiles as they saw Raphael still for a moment as he gazed at his little girl. Amelia and Daisy had really been the making of him, and he was a better man than they ever believed he could become.

By the time Daisy had finished eating, Raphael had managed to take a couple of sips of coffee, before he then had to clean her up and release her from the confines of the high chair. He handed her to her grandfather, who happily took the gurgling child into his arms to cuddle her. Raphael then moved the high chair out of the way and excused himself to go and check on Amelia.

He found his wife still sleeping peacefully, with no signs of a fever. He sighed with relief, running his hand gently over her messy hair. She stirred at his touch and leant into his hand, causing him to smile down at her. He loved this woman so much. Just knowing that someone had been able to see past his physical differences and come to love him the way she had was more than enough for him.

"Raph?"

"Morning, darlin'..." He whispered, resting the back of his hand against her forehead, "You feeling any better?"

Amelia hummed in response to his question, nodding her head slightly. Raphael smiled, leaning down to tenderly kiss her lips as she turned onto her back, which earned him another, more appreciative hum than the first one.

"Daisy's up. She's been changed, dressed and she's had her breakfast." He told her, smoothing her hair back.

"Have you eaten?" Amelia asked him, opening her deep blue eyes to gaze up at him sleepily.

"I've had half a coffee." Raphael offered with a shrug, "We can have breakfast together for a change."

Amelia started to sit up slowly, her honey-blonde curls falling around her shoulders elegantly as she did. Raphael moved to support her because he could see that she was still weak, and he carefully eased her out of bed with gentle hands before turning to make her side of the bed back up. Amelia moved to get her clothes from the Ottoman as she usually did before she slowly started to dress herself. Raphael stayed close by after he'd grabbed her hooded sweater for her, and Amelia didn't have the heart to tell him not to. He was so protective of her, and he cared for her so deeply. She loved him all the more for it.

"How does oatmeal sound?" He asked her, earning a bright smile from his wife as she steadily brushed her hair.

"Oatmeal sounds great." She laughed melodically, "Was Daisy good for you this morning?"

"She was. I just wish she would've waited an extra half hour before getting up." Raphael chuckled, "I've been up since about five-fifteen."

Amelia winced and bit her lip. They had long days with Daisy sometimes, which could go from as early as five in the morning until a time as late as midnight. They were trying to get her settled into a routine, and it was starting to work, but sometimes the little turtle was just so stubborn that it was hard to get her to sleep when they wanted to.

"You should've woken me." The young woman said, tying her hair up into a messy bun.

"No, I shouldn't. You needed your rest, babe." Raphael replied, moving closer to kiss her forehead before handing her the sweater, "You've been really sick."

Amelia looked up at him for a moment, but she didn't argue. She simply nodded, took the hooded sweater, and slipped it on carefully. The two of them then left the bedroom, only to be greeted with the sight of Daisy being fussed by her grandfather, two of her uncles, and her aunt. Vern was due to come by later that day to see her, as he did twice a week, and there was no doubt that Michelangelo would be dragged out of bed shortly, so soon, she'd have the attention of her third and fourth uncles as well.

Amelia was greeted with very happy voices and a shriek of delight from the baby, who beamed at the sight of her mother. April, who was holding Daisy at the time, set the child on the floor so that she could stumble her way towards her mother. Her walking was improving day by day, and the family tried to allow her to practice these movements as often as possible. Amelia met the child half way and scooped her up into her arms to give her a kiss and greet her.

* * *

"Bah!"

A small shriek erupted in the quietness of the lair that afternoon. Then came the sound of Michelangelo roaring like a lion at his niece which rang out through the living area, followed by a sweet gurgle and then a huge belly laugh from Daisy, who was sitting on the floor between her mother's legs, her eyes wide with curiosity and sparkling with joy. Michelangelo crawled towards her again and roared, leaning towards the area between her neck and shoulder before blowing raspberries there, causing his niece to belly laugh again.

"Mmmmi-Mi!"

Stunned, Michelangelo pulled back to look at his niece, who was gazing at him with her big blue eyes, and her hands outstretched towards him. Amelia looked just as stunned as he did, and she pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head before speaking gently to her. The sound had literally come out of nowhere, and it was obvious to anyone who heard that sound that Daisy was actually trying to speak. She'd been making attempts to talk more over the past couple of weeks, but they'd never heard anything as clear as this.

"Say that again. Say ' _Mi-mi_ '... Come on..."

"Mmm... M-Mm..." Daisy was trying so hard, and Michelangelo could see her eyes almost cross with the effort she was putting into her attempt at talking, "Mimi!"

She then reached towards Michelangelo, who was swallowing hard due to the lump of emotion that had just risen in his throat. She was _talking_ to him. Addressing him by a name, even if it was an incredibly short, and incredibly feminine version of his name, at least she was trying to call to him. It was so much more emotional than he ever thought it could be and the fact that he was the first of her uncles that she was actually addressing by a name made it all the more wonderful.

The sound of Daisy talking had caught the attention of everyone in the lair, and heads were poking out of various rooms to hear what was going on. Raphael was sitting in one of the armchairs nearby, looking at his daughter with such a proud expression that it made a lump rise in Amelia's throat too. Their little girl was their pride and joy, and Amelia knew how blessed Raphael felt to not only have a wife but to also have this tiny bundle of joy that seemed to bring joy to everyone she met.

"Mimi!" Daisy cried again, leaning towards Michelangelo, "Mimi!"

Unable to speak due to the emotion he was feeling, Michelangelo gently picked up the ten-month-old and settled her in his arms, feeling her start to squeeze his cheeks with her tiny hands as she tried to get him to respond to her. Once again, her sweet little voice filled the air, and the family started to gather around the living area to witness Daisy learning this new word. It was more than adorable to see the interaction between them, but it was also stunning to see Michelangelo actually rendered speechless for once in his life.

"Mimi!" Daisy said sweetly, smiling up at her uncle with a big, bright grin that could melt even the hardest of hearts.

"Clever girl." Amelia praised her, watching her brother pull the baby to his chest to hug her, "Are you okay, Mikey?"

Michelangelo nodded, even though there were tears in his eyes. The love he felt for this baby was astounding, and Amelia knew how important it was for the two of them to get the opportunity to bond this way. Daisy squealed as Michelangelo kissed her head, and she called to him again as she tried to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Love you, dudette." He whispered to her, rubbing her shell before blowing a big raspberry on her cheek, taking the opportunity to clear his throat.

"She's talking?" April asked from her place behind the couch.

"She said my name." Michelangelo beamed, "She's given me a name!"

"She's given you a girl's name." Raphael laughed, causing his brothers and father to chuckle as well.

"Oh, God, I don't care." Michelangelo breathed, holding the baby tighter to him, "She's _talking_ to me..."

Daisy then looked around at her aunt, her grandfather, and her uncles, wondering what on earth was going on. She made a soft cooing noise and then burrowed back into Michelangelo's chest as her mother handed her uncle the blanket Raphael had made for her. She was getting tired, as the family could tell by the way she'd started to suckle on her fist. It was amazing how quickly she could go from being full of energy to actually falling asleep. So, Michelangelo rearranged her in his arms and then wrapped her up in her blanket, before handing her the plushie that sat beside them.

Daisy burrowed into him even further, blinking sleepily as she pulled her plushie closer to embrace it. The little turtle then gurgled again, kicking her tiny feet as she tried to get comfortable in her uncle's arms. Michelangelo carefully moved onto the couch with her so that he could be comfortable while holding her, and Amelia then took that as an opportunity to tidy away some of Daisy's toys.

Raphael got up to go and make himself, Amelia and Michelangelo something to drink, while his little brother contentedly held the sleepy baby in his arms. Amelia turned to him as she put Daisy's building blocks away, offering him a bright smile. Michelangelo was always so good with Daisy. He was more than happy to take care of her, and he made the effort to spend at least an hour of every day with her, one on one. His niece meant the world to him, and Amelia was so proud of how he'd taken to being an uncle.

"I can't believe she said my name." He breathed out, gently stroking the child's hand, "She spoke to me..."

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Amelia replied, taking a seat next to him, "She does have a soft spot for you, though. She doesn't really laugh with anyone else like she does with you."

"I'll always take care of her, Amelia." He promised, his expression now serious, "You know that, right? I'll always look after her."

Amelia nodded, brushing a lock of her honey-blonde hair behind her ear. She knew that Michelangelo was fiercely protective of both her and Daisy, just as his brothers and father were. He'd never let any harm come to them, and if someone _did_ hurt them, they'd pay for it, severely. Amelia also knew that Michelangelo meant what he was saying. He would always take care of Daisy, and if anything happened to her or Raphael, he'd step up to the plate and do whatever he could for his niece.

"I know you will." Amelia whispered, leaning over to kiss her brother's cheek before looking down at her daughter, "Look at her. She has no idea how loved she is."

Daisy was blinking sleepily, snuffling as she rested comfortably in Michelangelo's arms. Raphael, who was returning to the living area with a tray of hot drinks, sat himself down on Michelangelo's other side, which earned a tired smile from Daisy as she saw him come into view. He gave Michelangelo a proud smile, who grinned back brightly before returning his attention to his niece, who was gripping his thumb tightly.

"I'll put her in her crib." He said softly, "Is the baby monitor on?"

"Yeah, it's on, Mikey." Raphael replied, watching his younger brother stand up with the child in his arms as he moved to take her up to her room for her nap.

Once he was out of earshot, Amelia and Raphael moved together on the couch, and Raphael gently put his arm around the young woman, who sank dreamily into his embrace as she curled her feet up onto the couch.

"He's so good with her, ain't he?" Raphael said, watching Michelangelo and Daisy disappear into the nursery, "I never thought he'd get stuck in like he has. He actually offers to change her diapers and stuff now."

"He's grown up." Amelia smiled, "I'm so proud of him."

"Me too." Raphael smirked, ducking his head in a seemingly embarrassed manner, "So... Daisy's gonna be asleep for about two or three hours, which gives us a little time to ourselves."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Amelia asked, arching her eyebrow into a particularly wicked curve.

The smile that lit up her husband's face confirmed that indeed, he was thinking what she was thinking.

* * *

"Sleep tight, little dudette." Michelangelo said softly as he tucked Daisy into her crib, "You need anything, you just holler into that baby monitor, and Uncle Mikey will come and get you, 'kay?"

The sleeping baby snuffled, pulling her plushie closer. Michelangelo leant down to tenderly kiss her head, before he turned on her nightlight and crept out of the nursery, carefully closing the shutter behind him. He then moved down the stairs quietly, only to find Raphael laid out on the couch with Amelia in his arms, both of them fast asleep. He grinned to himself, sat down in one of the beanbag chairs, and loaded up his gaming console to have a couple of hours of video game time before Daisy would awake from her nap.

* * *

 **Prompts For Chapter Two:**

 **Broken**

 **Fish**

 **Pillow**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	2. Elephants, Pandas and Fish! Oh, My!

**Chapter Summary:** Amelia happens upon a very sweet conversation between her husband and daughter...

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N (PLEASE READ):** Hi, everyone! I hope you're enjoying this so far. Again, I can't say how often I'll update this. It'll just be an ' _as and when_ ' sort of thing. I'd just like to remind you guys that the direction of this story is in your hands. At the bottom of the chapter, there are three prompts for the next chapter. Choose your favourite and post it in a review. The one with the most votes will be the prompt I use to write the next chapter. Also, I wanted to make you aware that Daisy's age may jump depending on what ideas the prompt word gives me for each chapter, so I'll be adding her age at the top of the chapter as I've done here.

 **NinjaTurtleLover001:** Mikey is pretty adorable with Daisy. I'm sure you'll get to see more of his interactions with her as time goes on. Thanks for voting and reviewing!

 **The Silvernote** **:** I'm so glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy this one just as much. Thanks for reviewing!

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you enjoy this one too. Don't forget to vote! :D

 **felicia2235:** Thanks for reviewing! I'll probably do some mature ones later depending on the prompts. I hope you like this chapter.

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Elephants, Pandas and Fish! Oh, My! ~**

 **Prompt:** Fish

 **Daisy's Age:** 4 Years Old

It had been a busy morning so far for Amelia.

She'd gotten out of bed, taken a shower, had her breakfast, done an hour of exercise, and now she was just about to go and get her daughter ready so that she could start her morning lessons. Since Daisy couldn't go to a school on the surface for obvious reasons, the family were taking on the task of schooling her themselves. Amelia did most of Daisy's schooling, but sometimes Splinter, April or Donatello would take over so that Amelia could have a break. As Amelia climbed the stairs towards her daughter's bedroom, she heard the voice of her husband and decided to look through the small gap in the shutter to see what mischief that he and their daughter were up to.

She was met with the sight of Raphael sitting on Daisy's bed with the young child sitting in front of him, playing with a doll that April had given her for her fourth birthday. Raphael was busy carefully tying a white headscarf with butterflies of a dozen colours printed on it around his daughter's head. Ever since Daisy had tearfully told Raphael that she wanted to have ' _pretty hair like Mama's and Aunt April's_ ', she'd been wearing pretty headscarves every day. Raphael had unfortunately been landed with the painful task of telling his little girl that she'd never have hair because turtles didn't have hair, which had resulted in hours of tears until Amelia and April had returned from an emergency shopping spree with a multitude of beautiful, colourful accessory scarves that Daisy could wear on head.

Amelia watched through the gap in the shutter with a fond smile as a rather strange sentence from the little girl caught her attention and drew her from the rather painful memories she'd just been experiencing.

"Daddy, can I have a pet?"

Raphael let out a soft chuckle and gave one of those half-smiles that Amelia always thought made him look so handsome, and she watched intently to see what his response would be to such a question. Clearly, he was rather focused on something else. Not satisfied with how he'd tied the scarf, Raphael took it off of Daisy's head with a quiet sigh to start over while he gave the child's question another moment of thought.

"What sort of pet do you want, baby?" He asked Daisy softly, beginning to wrap the scarf around her head again.

"Um..." The child thought for a moment, "An elephant!"

Raphael laughed, and the sound was warm, deep and gruff as it rumbled in his chest. He shook his head with a very loving grin and cleared his throat, clearly trying to think of a response. Amelia bit her lip as she watched Raphael's face then tighten in concentration as he continued to wrap the scarf around Daisy's head.

"I don't think we could get an elephant down here, sweetie." He answered her gently, "I don't even think we could fit one in Uncle Vern's van, do you?"

"I guess not." Daisy murmured, pausing to look down at the doll again, "Can I have a panda instead?"

Raphael laughed again, rolling his eyes as he continued to carefully wrap the material around her head. He seemed more satisfied with this attempt, Amelia noticed, as he gave a little nod of approval as he admired his handiwork. Then, she saw a look of irritation pass over his face, and she instantly knew why. In the colder months, Daisy had a selection of clothes to wear to keep her warm in the lair, and it was always easier to put on her headscarves after she was dressed since trying to get her into a top could mess the whole thing up. However, Raphael had left her in her bathrobe while he'd put the scarf on for her, and he hadn't dressed her.

"Okay, we're gonna have to be careful now. Daddy's forgotten to actually get you dressed before he's put your scarf on." He said in that same soft tone, lifting Daisy off the bed with him as he climbed off.

"That was dumb, Daddy." Daisy said in a quiet, but sincere voice as her father set her on her five-toed feet.

"Yeah, it was." Raphael replied, opening up Daisy's closet to pick out something for her to wear, "So, why do you want a panda?"

"One of the really pretty girls on Uncle Mimi's fightin' game has one." Daisy replied, standing patiently by her bed as her father picked out a warm hoodie and some warm bottoms for her to wear.

Amelia saw Raphael look towards the ceiling and mime some kind of obscenity, thankfully with his back turned to their daughter before he then decided to turn to look at her again. Michelangelo was trying to get Daisy into playing video games, and she was really enjoying it, but she'd taken a bit too much of a liking to the _Tekken_ series, and unfortunately, she kept trying to re-enact some of the character's moves on different members of the family. Leonardo had received a surprise karate chop to the throat the week before and poor Daisy had been both devastated and terrified when she realised she'd actually hurt him. However, she hadn't seemed to learn her lesson since then.

"I don't think we can keep a panda, little flower." Raphael told her, walking towards her with the clothes, "Let's get you into some warm clothes, huh?"

"I can get dressed on my own, Daddy." Daisy answered him proudly, taking the clothes from him.

"Alright then. You get dressed, and I'll find your booties." Raphael said with a grin, "Mama's still fixing your brown ones, so it'll have to be your grey ones."

Through the gap in the shutter, Amelia watched the unfolding scene with fascination, and as Daisy got herself dressed and Raphael searched through her closet for the soft shoes in question, she heard the little girl let out an impish giggle. Daisy's feet got cold so easily that Amelia had made her some woollen booties that she could wear around the lair during the winter months. The little girl always looked so adorable in them, and she'd been so happy when Amelia had given her first pair to her for her birthday that she'd gone running around the lair, shoving them in everyone's face and telling them how awesome her mama was.

"Can I have a fish?" Daisy asked after her little giggle, causing her father to turn towards her, now with the booties held in his hand.

"A fish?" Raphael asked in return, "Yeah, I'm sure we could get you a fish, baby. What kind of fish do you want?"

He was almost afraid of the answer. Amelia could see the anticipation on his face, as though he was expecting their little girl to come out with some bizarre request for a tank full of sharks, or something like that. He looked at his daughter with a soft smile as she ducked her head, hiding her pretty blue eyes from his view as she shrugged and went back to playing with the doll in her hands.

"Just a goldfish." She said quietly, "I'd love to have a goldfish. But..."

Her expression then became a rather sad one, and from the doorway, Amelia watched with concern as Raphael sat down on the bed, and pulled the now dressed child into his arms, rubbing her cotton-covered carapace with a large, comforting hand. Daisy sometimes felt sad over the most unusual things, and sometimes her parents had no idea how to make her feel better about whatever was upsetting her. She'd once cried for two hours because one of her toys had fallen out of her bed in the middle of the night, and she felt guilty that he'd been left on the floor on his own for all that time. Leonardo had been the one to actually find a way to soothe her and comfort her during that episode.

"But what, Daisy?" Raphael's gentle, deep voice drew Amelia back out of her thoughts again, "What is it?"

"I wouldn't want him to be on his own." She said softly, looking up at her daddy with those lovely blue eyes, "He might get lonely. I can't stay with him all the time 'cause I have to go to lessons and stuff."

Amelia watched her husband's face as it was graced with a sad, but fond smile. The family were always trying to teach Daisy about compassion and kindness, and about the importance of considering how her actions would affect someone else. Quite clearly, their influence was rubbing off on her. Raphael pressed a kiss to Daisy's head and continued to rub her shell to soothe the sad little turtle as she absently fidgeted with the doll in her hands, her gaze still held towards the floor.

"Well, how about we get you two goldfish?" Raphael asked her, desperate to see the frown disappear from her face, "Then you won't have to worry about them being lonely, 'cause they'll have each other."

"I can really have two?" Daisy asked, her face now graced with a stunning smile and her eyes bright and wide with joy as she turned to look at her father, "Really, Daddy?"

"Yeah, sure." Raphael answered with a warm grin, "It's fine with me, but remember what we talked about? We gotta clear it with Mama too."

Amelia took that opportunity to enter the room, knowing that neither her husband or daughter had seen her watching them. The whole scene had been the most adorable thing that Amelia had witnessed in quite a long time, and she didn't want to have to put Daisy through having to explain why she wanted two goldfish when the reason made the child quite sad.

"Clear what with Mama?" She asked, stepping into the room as her husband and daughter looked up at her with beaming grins.

Daisy looked a little unsure at first, but Raphael gently pushed her forward to encourage her, and Amelia knelt down as her little girl approached her so that the child wouldn't feel so nervous. She always found it difficult to ask for things she wanted, and no-one seemed to know why that was the case, so the family always tried to make her comfortable whenever she was asking for something she wanted or needed.

"What is it, baby?" Amelia asked as Daisy took her hand brushing her spare one over the child's head.

"Mama, I was askin' Daddy if I could have a pet." Daisy began, squeezing her mother's hand, "And I want a goldfish. But I don't want him to be on his own, so Daddy and I thought maybe I could have two goldfish, then they won't get lonely."

"I don't see why you can't have a couple of goldfish, sweetheart." Amelia said with a smile, "I'll go and get them tomorrow while Aunt April and I are out grocery shopping."

"Really? I can have them tomorrow?" Daisy asked, bouncing eagerly on the spot.

"Yeah, of course." Amelia replied with a nod, laughing loudly as Daisy squealed with joy and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.

"Oh, Mama! Thanks!" She said with a beaming grin, kissing Amelia several times on the cheek before she broke away to run to her father, who scooped her up into his arms with a laugh, "Thanks, Daddy!"

"You're welcome, darlin'." Raphael said, kissing her on the forehead, "Now, go with your mama. It's time for your lessons."

Daisy went running to her desk and grabbed a couple of exercise books and her pencil case before returning to her mother who was now on her feet. She took her mother's hand, and Raphael got up to follow the pair as they headed out of the room, talking excitedly about what Daisy was going to call her new pets.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter Three:**

 **Reveal**

 **Argument**

 **Close**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	3. Close Calls

**Chapter Summary:** Raphael and Amelia have a close call when Daisy walks in on them having some 'alone time'.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, everyone! I'm sorry for my slight absence, but it's my birthday today (20/02/2017) and I've just turned 24. I've been busy with celebrations with my parents and my boyfriend, who also gave me a promise ring (also known as a pre-engagement ring) for my birthday. I'm so happy right now, it's unbelievable. Anyway, please **don't forget to vote** for the prompt you want me to use for the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this one and thanks for all the support so far! I'd also like to leave a **warning** for **mild adult content** in this chapter.

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for voting! I'm glad you thought the last chapter was cute, and I hope you enjoy this one!

 **The Silvernote:** I'm glad you're enjoying this so far! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy reading!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

 **~ Close Calls ~**

 **Prompt:** Close

 **Daisy's Age:** 2 Years Old

The moment that Raphael closed the shutter to the room he shared with Amelia, he moved towards the young woman who was about to take off her robe, and slipped his arms around her waist as they both let out a deep sigh of relief that their daughter was in bed and that the day was finally over.

Trying to handle an active, moody two-year-old was hard for any parent, and Raphael and Amelia had been through one hell of a day with their daughter. She'd started the day by getting up at four-thirty in the morning before proceeding to leave her room, open up the shutter to her parents' room just enough to squeeze her way inside, and then she'd started jumping on the bed because she wanted her mama to get up and start the day with her. Raphael, being a loving husband and father, got up at the same time so that Amelia wasn't dealing with the already hyper toddler on her own. All day, her parents had been reminding her to be careful, slow down, to do as she was told, and she'd spent her day being unusually disobedient, cheeky and she'd had three separate temper tantrums. She was getting better with her speech with each day, and Donatello told them that the advanced language skills she had were probably down to the mutagen in her system, which had given her a significant intelligence boost. Not that this made the parents feel any better when their child was throwing a fit and screaming at the top of her lungs, or answering them back when they asked her to do something she didn't want to do.

The last tantrum had been when it was her bedtime because she didn't want to go to bed, and seeing that her mother and father were stressed to high hell, Leonardo had taken over to give them some relief and had gotten Daisy ready for bed, tucked her in, read her a bedtime story and then rubbed the little turtle's shell until she fell asleep. Raphael and Amelia had spent about an hour watching television with Donatello and April before they'd decided to call it a night.

"I've missed you." Raphael murmured, pressing his lips to his wife's temple as he drew up his hands to slowly pull the soft robe from her shoulders, "I've missed you so much."

Amelia's eyes closed as she felt her husband start to kiss her neck and shoulders tenderly and lovingly, and she fought the urge to just collapse against him as he brushed his lips against her pale skin. Her robe fell to the floor in a graceless heap, and as Raphael's fingers started to brush against the silk of her nightdress, she reached up to cup the side of his head in an intimate, sweet gesture. They just didn't really have the energy to be intimate these days. Daisy took up almost all of their energy, and as much as they adored her and thanked their lucky stars for her, sometimes they just wanted time on their own. The feeling of being together like this for the first time in quite a while was rather overwhelming for both of them.

"I've missed you too." Amelia breathed out the words shakily, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck as she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

"You're not too tired tonight?" Raphael asked her, brushing her long, honey-blonde curls away from her neck so that he could kiss the soft flesh of her jaw.

"No." Amelia replied, turning in his arms to embrace him, "I need you, Raph."

Raphael cupped her face, kissing her softly as she melted into his arms with a long, weary sigh. The dark circles beneath her eyes would tell anyone that she was utterly exhausted, but Raphael knew how much she wanted him and he wanted her just as much. She worked so hard to make sure that he and Daisy were happy and cared for, not to mention the rest of the family, and Raphael wanted to give her something in return, even if it was something as simple as making love to her.

So, he pulled her closer and then started to slowly walk her back towards their bed, which earned a soft giggle from her as he kissed her again. He lifted her up, somehow managing to support her five-foot and eight-inch tall body with one arm as he pulled the covers of the bed back with the other before he slowly eased her down on the mattress and joined her on the bed. Shivering, Amelia spread her legs to her could slip between them, and desperately tried to pull him closer to her.

They kissed deeply again, and Raphael started to ease the fabric of Amelia's nightdress upward, revealing her flat stomach and beautiful hips to him, as well as the white silk underwear that was hiding the most intimate part of her from him. He broke away from Amelia's lips to move towards her lower body, where he placed a loving, lingering kiss just above the waistline of her underwear. Amelia let out a quiet moan and her slender hands moved to cup his head as he began to remove the white silk from her lower body.

He slowly kissed his way up her body from her stomach after he'd removed the underwear, and he felt her shiver with pleasure as he pushed the nightdress past her bare breasts. She smiled at him as he then leant down to take her left breast into his mouth, his tongue caressing the soft flesh in lazy motions which caused her back to arch from the mattress in response. She let out a deep sigh as her hips rocked against his in a deep movement, while he then turned his attention to her other breast, his thumb playing with the breast he'd just abandoned.

After a few moments of teasing, he moved to tenderly kiss her lips, grinding his hips down against hers in slow, deliberate movements. Amelia gasped, pulling him closer as she brought her legs up to rest beside his waist. She was more than ready for him, and he was more than ready to be with her, but just as Raphael went to release himself from his lower plastron the horrifying sound of the shutter to their room being opened hit their ears.

"Mama!" Daisy's voice startled Raphael so much that he flew off Amelia at a speed she'd never seen before, and Amelia let out a high pitched shriek at the realisation that their daughter had caught them in a compromising position, "I had a bad dream!"

Amelia tried desperately to cover herself with her nightdress as Daisy toddled into the room, rubbing her tearful eyes in the midst of a crying fit. Both panicked parents stared at the little girl in horror, but thankfully she hadn't appeared to notice that they were up to anything unusual. The moment that Daisy cried for her mother again and reached for her, Amelia was snapped out of her shocked state and she climbed out of bed to go to her. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest from the shock, and Raphael was clearly as mortified as she was, but the two of them tried to calm down because they knew that their daughter needed their attention.

"What did you dream about, baby?" Amelia asked, picking Daisy up before bringing her to the bed, where Raphael still looked both horrified and, frankly, a little annoyed.

"Th-there was a monster!" Daisy wailed, clutching at her mother's nightgown as she tried to pull herself closer to the young woman for comfort, "It was big and it came out of my toy box!"

"It's alright, honey, it was just a dream." Amelia soothed her, kissing her forehead tenderly and hushing her as she cupped the back of the child's head with her slender hand, "It's okay."

"C-Can I sleep here?" Daisy asked, looking up at her mother with those big, blue eyes, "I don't want the monster to get me."

Amelia saw the look of annoyance wash over Raphael's face again, but immediately, it was replaced by regret, and then what she thought was resignation. She understood how frustrating it was when Daisy wanted to share the bed with them. They barely shared any intimacy these days, and they obviously couldn't share any if their daughter was so close to them, but Amelia also knew that Raphael wouldn't turn their child away if she was so terrified. However, the parents had started to use a different approach to try and coax Daisy to sleep in her own bed.

"Baby, it was just a dream." Raphael said softly, holding his hands out to his daughter who crawled over to him to sit with him instead, "I'm pretty sure that there won't be a monster in your toy box."

"I dunno, Dada..." Daisy murmured, "I'm scared."

"How about Daddy comes and takes a look to see if there's a monster in your room?" Raphael suggested, kissing Daisy's forehead, "'Cause if there is, you know I'll get rid of it for you, right? No monsters are gonna get past your daddy, are they?"

"No, Dada." Daisy replied softly.

"Okay. Come on. We're gonna go check your room." Raphael said, climbing out of bed with Daisy still in his arms.

"Mama too... " Daisy said, reaching for her mother over Raphael's shoulder.

"Yeah, Mama's coming." Raphael promised her as Amelia climbed out of bed again to follow them.

They moved to Daisy's room, and Raphael kept her held close to him as they walked down the dimly lit corridor towards the brightly coloured shutter to her room. Their current feelings about being interrupted were replaced with concern for their baby, and a need to protect her and to make her feel safe. They'd have other opportunities to be alone together, and their little girl needed them in that moment, so both parents decided to put all their energy into making sure that Daisy knew that she was perfectly safe in her bedroom.

Raphael opened the shutter carefully and switched on the main light in the toddler's bedroom before handing her to her mother. Amelia held Daisy close, squeezing slightly as Daisy's little arms wrapped tightly around her neck as she desperately searched for the love and comfort only a mother could give. They watched as Raphael got down on his knees to check under the bed. He checked for about ten seconds before he then lifted up the base of the bed to show Daisy that there was nothing underneath it. Then, he checked Daisy's closet and parted the few items of clothing that hung in there to prove to her that again, it was otherwise empty. No sign of any monsters.

After that, he carefully checked the large chest which was painted blue with white clouds and a pink castle on it that sat in the corner near Daisy's activity table. He made sure to take his time and thoroughly check the toy box so that Daisy thought he was really searching for a monster. He knew it would make her feel better because she seemed to take after her Uncle Leo with how much she worried. After a few moments, as Amelia bounced Daisy carefully in her arms, Raphael turned back to look at the pair with a smile on his face.

"All clear, little flower." He said quietly, "No monsters in here."

"Really?" Daisy asked, her eyes hopeful.

"Really." Raphael reassured her, "No monsters. It's alright."

Amelia turned to Daisy and kissed her, brushing a falling tear from the child's cheek with a slender finger. The relief present in their daughter's eyes was overwhelming, even though she still looked unsure. She chewed her thumb, just like her father did when he was worried or anxious, and she looked between her mother, the closet, and the toy box before returning her gaze to Amelia's. She looked as though she felt uncertain, so Amelia decided to ask her if she'd be okay to sleep in the room by herself.

"Do you think you can sleep in your own bed, like a big girl?" Amelia asked her gently.

Daisy looked to the bed, clearly conflicted. Her parents didn't want her to feel as though they were turning her away, but they didn't want her to become codependent on them either. She looked back to her mother with fresh tears in her eyes, and Amelia felt her start to tremble in her arms again. It had obviously been a very bad nightmare, especially for Daisy to just burst into their room like that, so Amelia knew that there was very little chance of Daisy feeling safe to sleep in her room that night.

"No?" Amelia offered carefully, earning a shake of the head from the toddler, who buried her face in her mother's shoulder and neck, and started to cry again, "Oh, it's okay... It's okay, Daisy."

Raphael shared a look of concern with his wife, but in the same look, there was pure resignation and deflation. They weren't going to get any time alone together that night. But, Raphael and Amelia would much rather their daughter feel safe and secure, so with a loving smile, Raphael picked up Daisy's favourite toy, her old plushie, Franklin, and then one of her favourite bedtime stories before approaching his wife and child slowly.

"Alright. Bedtime." He said, his voice deep and gruff, "How about we read a story?"

Daisy lifted her head to look at her father, a small smile now present as tears continued to fall down her face. She nodded eagerly and reached for him, so Raphael took her with one arm before handing her the plushie and her story to hold onto before he then brought his other arm around her to rub her shell soothingly.

"Would you like some water, Daisy?" Amelia asked gently, earning a nod from the toddler.

"Yes, please." The little turtle replied, earning a loving kiss on her cheek from her father as she turned to look at him, "Will you do the voices, Dada?"

Raphael nodded with a beaming grin, and his little girl seemed to melt in his arms with pure relief that she'd be staying with her parents that night instead of sleeping in a dark room by herself. Amelia went to go and get the three of them something to drink, while Raphael got Daisy settled in the middle of their large bed and started to read her the bedtime story.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 4:**

 **School**

 **Bundle**

 **News**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	4. Breaking News

**Chapter Summary:** Daisy receives some exciting news from her mother and father.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, guys! We're back with chapter four. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for all the support so far! It's great to see so many of you enjoying my series :D

 **Alex:** Thanks for reviewing! If you leave a vote for one of the prompts at the bottom of the chapter, one-shots like the ones you want to see may turn up later :D

 **NinjaTurtleLover001:** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Yeah, I imagine it would be quite awkward to have your child walk in on you half naked. Thanks for reviewing and voting. I hope you like this chapter.

 **The Silvernote:** Thanks for the birthday wishes :D I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter :P I hope you like this one!

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Breaking News ~**

 **Prompt:** News

 **Daisy's Age:** 4 Years Old

"How do you think she's gonna take this?" Raphael asked as he and Amelia approached Daisy's bedroom shutter.

"I have no idea, but let's just hope for the best." Amelia replied quietly moving the wrapped gift in her right hand to her left as she went to peer inside the room.

She then opened up the shutter to find Daisy and her oldest uncle having what looked like a tea party. Leonardo was sitting there with what looked like a paper crown on his head, and Daisy, who was already wearing a blue headscarf with white polka-dots on it, had one sat on her head too. She was pouring an imaginary cup of tea for Leonardo, who thanked her for it, picked up the white plastic teacup which had a pink flower printed on the side of it, and he blew on the imaginary liquid before pretending to take a sip.

"Have you been watching Papa make tea because you're very good at it?" He asked her, watching as Daisy broke into excited giggles and took a sip herself.

He knew his younger brother and sister-in-law were watching, but Leonardo had learned rather quickly not to be embarrassed when playing with his niece. Everyone in the family did things when playing with Daisy that they might deem embarrassing, but as long as Daisy was having fun, everyone was willing to be as silly as was necessary to make the four-year-old happy. He watched the little turtle's face light up with pure delight as she saw her parents in the doorway.

"Mama! Daddy!" She squealed, getting up off the floor and racing towards them with her arms outstretched, "I missed you! Where'd you go?!"

"We had to talk to Uncle Donnie, sweetie." Amelia replied with a smile, "We have something very important to tell you."

Leonardo had taken the crown off of his head at this point, placing it on Daisy's desk next to her goldfish, Mickey and Minnie, who were swimming around minding their own business in their tank. Leonardo knew exactly what Raphael and Amelia had gone to Donatello for, and so did the rest of the family, but Daisy was the last one to find out, and while he would love to see her reaction to the news, he knew that it was a conversation that should be just between Raphael, Amelia and their daughter. So, he gave Daisy a kiss on the head and left the room, while Daisy sat on her bed with her mother, and Raphael knelt down in front of her.

"We've got a present for you." The large turtle spoke to his daughter so gently.

"Oh, really?" She was so excited that both Raphael and Amelia couldn't help but beam at her, "Thanks! Can I have it now?"

"Yeah, sure." Amelia said sweetly, handing her little girl the gift that was wrapped in pink and gold paper, "When you open it, you have to look at it very carefully, okay?"

"Okay." Daisy replied, looking between her parents with a beautiful, excited smile as she then started to tear off the wrapping paper.

Inside the paper was a hooded sweater, like the ones she wore in the winter time, and it was dark purple with gold print on the front. Daisy studied it very carefully, trying to sound out the words on it as her mother had been teaching her to in her lessons. She pointed to the strange looking symbol on the top, which was the first thing she'd seen, looking at her parents questioningly.

"What's that?" She asked, earning a small laugh from her mother.

"That means, ' _number_ '. So if you see one of these with a number next to it, like this one has a ' _one_ ' next to it, so it means, ' _number one_ '." Amelia explained, earning a nod from her daughter who continued to read the words out loud to her parents.

"Number one si...sis...ter..." She spoke slowly and struggled a little to say the last word since she was having difficulty with her reading of late, but once she'd read it once, she was able to repeat it again, "Number one sister..."

Raphael and Amelia waited for a moment to see if she understood why she had a sweater with ' _#1 Sister_ " written on it, and after a brief moment of silent, Daisy looked up at her parents with a rather confused expression and a rather nervous smile. When she saw her parents smiling brightly at her and she saw the tears in her mother's eyes, Daisy thought that this must be something very special and important. She looked at the sweater again, and then back to her parents. She knew what the terms ' _brother_ ' and ' _sister_ ' meant. Her uncles were her daddy's brothers, and they all called her mama their sister, even though she knew that her mama wasn't really their sister. But, she didn't have brothers or sisters, so why would her parents tell her that she was a ' _#1 Sister_ ' if she wasn't a sister...?

Then, the realisation hit the little turtle as to why her parents had given her this present. She gasped and looked at her mother and father, who were both now laughing softly as she comprehended what this all meant. A sudden squeal of excitement escaped Daisy's lips, and she felt like she was going to cry, but she couldn't understand why she would be crying when she felt so happy.

"I-I'm gonna be a sister?" She asked them, earning nods from both of her parents which then caused her to break into something between a laugh and sob, "You're havin' a baby?! Oh, Mama!"

She instantly threw herself into the arms of her mother, who scooped Daisy up onto her knee and held her tightly, while Daisy held the sweater tightly in her hands between them. Raphael reached out to gently rub Daisy's shell as she cried with joy against her mother's shoulder. She never thought she'd have another kid to play with, and now she was getting a baby brother or sister.

"Is the baby in your tummy?" Daisy asked, gently touching Amelia's belly.

"No, honey." Amelia answered, causing Daisy to turn to her father in confusion.

"The baby's in an egg." Raphael said quietly, giving Amelia a sly smile because he was so excited to see how his daughter would react to this piece of information, "And the baby is in Uncle Donnie's lab. So, you can go and see your little brother or sister in their egg."

"Really?!" Daisy's voice was now more high pitched than they'd ever heard it and she let out the most gorgeous, warm, excited and frankly emotional smile that her parents had ever seen from her, "Can I see the baby right now, Daddy? Can I?"

"Yeah, of course." Raphael replied, laughing when she threw herself at him to hug him, the sweater now laying on her bed in a crumpled heap.

Amelia wiped at her eyes and then busied herself with folding it up, while Raphael gave Daisy a long, loving hug. Once she'd had a few moments to calm down, the couple led her out of her room and towards the stairs. As she'd been told to before, she took a hold of the railing in her left hand and held onto her father's right hand, and they carefully made their way down the stairs.

The rest of the family, apart from Donatello, were watching from the dojo doorway, and each of them laughed as Daisy broke free from her father's hand at the bottom of the stairs and bolted towards Donatello's lab, where she was met by her tallest uncle who caught her and scooped her up into his arms. He was laughing because she was so giddy to go and see her sibling, but he knew he'd have to ask her to be quiet because he wanted a calm environment for the baby to develop in.

"Okay, sweetie, you need to be nice and quiet, yeah?" He said softly, "Inside voices."

"Inside voices." Daisy agreed, taking her uncle's hand as he put her on the floor, "Mama says the baby's in an egg."

"Yeah, I'll show you." Donatello replied, leading the child into the lab as her parents watched from the doorway.

He lifted Daisy up and sat her on one of his chairs before he wheeled her towards the incubator that sat on one of his workbenches. Inside sat a small egg, and it was sitting in a nest, bathed in the warm glow of the heat lamp that sat above it.

"Oh, it's so tiny!" Daisy breathed, looking at the egg in wonder, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We won't know until he or she hatches." Donatello told her quietly, "And, that'll be in about four months from now."

"Four months! That's too long!" Daisy complained, looking at her uncle with sad eyes, "I want to meet the baby now!"

"You know, your mama was just the same when you were in your egg." Raphael laughed from the doorway, "She couldn't wait for you to hatch."

"I was in an egg too?" Daisy asked, her expression one of wonder as she leant closer to Donatello.

"Yeah. You were even in this same incubator while you were growing." Donatello told her, "So, this used to be where you lived until you were born. And we all got to be here to see you when you hatched from your egg."

"I lived in there?" Daisy asked him, astonished, "Really?"

"Yeah... I used to talk to you all the time." Donatello laughed, "Your mama used to come and read stories to you, and your daddy used to come and talk to you too."

"Will you talk to my brother or sister all the time?" Daisy asked, her expression now a little more solemn, "So he or she isn't lonely."

Donatello smiled at her, kissing her cheek gently. She was such a sweet and loving little girl, and Donatello knew that Amelia and Raphael had done a really incredible job of raising her from the moment she was born. She was so like her father to look at and listen to, but in personality, she carried most of her mother's traits, including her sweet, loving and caring nature. Donatello offered the child a nod, who gazed back at him with a beaming grin which was plastered on her face.

"Of course, I will." He promised her, "Now, I have to make sure everything's okay with your little brother or sister, and I have to give him or her some lunch, so how about you go and play for a while, and you can come back and say goodnight before bedtime?"

"Okay." Daisy replied, hugging her uncle before kissing his cheek, "Take care of him, 'kay?"

"You got it." Donatello replied, offering Amelia a warm smile as she came to lead Daisy out of the lab.

The little girl said her goodbyes to the infant and then followed her mother out of the room, only to see her remaining uncles and her aunt in the sitting area with her grandfather, who was watching her curiously as she ran across to tell them the news. She instantly went to Splinter to sit with him, because she always told him exciting news first, and she scrambled up onto his lap to talk to him as he put his cup of tea on the table beside them.

"Papa! Papa, we're gonna get a new baby!" She said excitedly, smiling brightly at her grandfather, who smiled back just as warmly, "I'm gonna be a sister."

"Yes, I heard something about there being a baby on the way." Splinter said gently, hearing the rest of the family laugh under their breaths as Daisy's grin grew even more, "You'll be a wonderful big sister, Daisy. I'm sure of it."

Daisy leant forward to hug her grandfather as her mother went to get her some juice, and Raphael took a seat on the floor near Leonardo who was sitting in one of the armchairs. Daisy then hopped off of her grandfather's lap and went running around to hug everyone else to celebrate the fantastic news.

Just as she was sitting with April, Daisy saw Vern walking into the lair, and with an excited cry of his name, the little turtle sprinted towards the cameraman, who managed to bend down just in time to catch her and lift her up into his arms to carry her back across to her rather apologetic looking father. As much as Vern had initially seemed standoffish with Daisy, now, this sweet little girl held a very special place in his heart. He babysat her on occasion, he came over every week to spend time with her, and for some reason, she seemed to love him to bits, so he really made the effort to be enthusiastic with her and to be friendlier with the family too.

"Uncle Vern! Uncle Vern! Guess what?" She spoke excitedly, bouncing up and down in his arms, "I'm gonna be a big sister!"

Vern's face fell into an expression of shock, as no-one had gotten around to telling him the good news yet. The rest of the family had only found out a few hours before, and Amelia had been so busy rushing around to get Daisy her hoodie that she'd not had the chance to let Vern know that there'd be a new addition to the family. He looked towards Raphael, and then Amelia, who was approaching the sitting area with Daisy's drink.

"No... You're kidding..." He breathed, watching the two expecting parents shake their heads as they broke into beaming grins, "That's great, guys. Really. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Amelia laughed sweetly as Vern set the little girl on the floor, who quickly grabbed onto his hand and started to pull him towards the living area.

"You want a beer, man?" Raphael asked, getting up off the floor.

"Sure, thanks." Vern replied, sitting on the couch beside April as Daisy got settled between them.

Amelia shifted out of her seat to go and start making the family some drinks, while Daisy snuggled up to her aunt as Donatello emerged from the lab, and April didn't hesitate before pulling Daisy onto her lap so that Donatello could sit on the couch. The tall turtle sat down and immediately put his arm around April, pulling her in to kiss her temple.

Daisy started to talk excitedly about how great it would be to have a sibling, and her family sat around her with warm smiles, trying to engage her in the conversation as much as possible. Leonardo told her how important it was for her to look after her baby brother or sister, Michelangelo talked to her about all the fun things that she and her little sibling would be able to do together, April and Donatello told her about all the wonderful things that the family used to do with her as a baby, while Daisy's parents watched with pure love and pride in their hearts as they watched their little girl talking so animatedly with her family.

"She took it better than I thought." Raphael laughed, "I bet we've got our hands full when the new baby's born."

"I think she'll be a big help." Amelia replied, leaning into her husband's side as they stood in the kitchen together, "She'll be wanting to change diapers and feed the baby his or her formula... She'll be great."

"How are you feeling about all this then?" Raphael asked her, pulling her closer to kiss her temple, "You want a boy or a girl?"

"I'd love a boy." Amelia told him quietly, "I'm so excited. I can't believe we're having another baby. What about you, baby? How are you feeling?"

"A boy would be awesome." He replied with a beaming grin, "I'm excited too. It's gonna be great. Daisy's gonna have a sibling to play with, and if Donnie and April carry on the way they are, there might be some little cousins running around too."

Amelia chuckled and ran her hand over Raphael's plastron, leaning up to tenderly press her lips to his as they listened to their daughter still babbling excitedly with her family.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 5:**

 **Stomach**

 **Quest**

 **Crash**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	5. Crash, Bang, Wallop

**Chapter Summary:** Raphael and Amelia are on a date, Donatello and April are babysitting, and Daisy takes a tumble.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, everyone. I'm back with another chapter. I'm sorry it's been a while, and I want you guys to know I am trying to work on this, the sequel to _Salvation_ and my artwork as much as I can, but I'm trying to run a business, I'm trying to prepare to move house and I'm fighting anxiety and depression all at the same time, so I have virtually no energy. Thanks for being so patient and sticking with me. I'll try and get more writing done as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **rinup14:** It's so wonderful to hear from you again! Thanks so much for the review and for reading the story :D

 **The Silvernote:** I'm so pleased you like Daisy so much. Children are adorable (even though they can be little terrors sometimes too). The prompts come from a random word generator so some of them are a bit out there. Don't forget to vote ;) I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for reviewing :D

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for reviewing :D I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **Alex** : Well, depending on the prompts and what people vote for, you'll hopefully be able to get to hear about the new baby soon. Thanks for the review!

 **felicia2235:** Thanks for voting! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Crash, Bang, Wallop ~**

 **Prompt:** Crash

 **Daisy's Age:** 3 Years Old

It was Raphael and Amelia's monthly date night; the one night out of each month that they were guaranteed a romantic evening, completely undisturbed.

Daisy, on this particular night of the month, would spend her late afternoon and early evening with the rest of her family and then they'd put her to bed in plenty of time for her parents coming home from their night out. Raphael and Amelia had been gone for ten minutes, and Daisy was crying her heart out in Donatello's arms as he tentatively tried to soothe her. She coped very well when it was just Raphael leaving them, but when Amelia went as well, Daisy simply couldn't cope.

"I wan' Mama!" Daisy wailed, burying her head in her uncle's chest, "I wan' Mama, Dee-Dee!"

"I know, sweet pea, I know." Donatello whispered, pulling her tighter to try and calm her, "But she'll be back with your daddy before you know it."

"You p'omise?" Daisy asked, looking up at him with huge, tearful blue eyes.

"I promise." He answered her with a nod to emphasise that he did indeed promise, "And while we're waiting, you, me and Aunt April are gonna have fun."

April came out from the lab, dressed in a pair of pink and white pyjamas, and joined her boyfriend and niece on the couch. She'd been with Donatello for almost three years and now that she was living in the lair, things seemed to be moving closer to a point where he may propose to her. She was crossing her fingers for that, and she'd even heard Raphael telling him to do so. She loved Donatello so much and seeing him with Daisy as he comforted her and soothed her made her fall in love with him even more. He'd be a wonderful father.

"Come on, honey... Aunt April doesn't want to see you cry." Donatello murmured to Daisy, cupping the back of the little turtle's head before kissing the crown of it, "Why don't you show her the new plushie that Uncle Mimi got for you."

Daisy nodded, sniffled, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and then scooted gingerly out of her uncle's arms before she toddled off in the direction of one of the armchairs to retrieve the plushie in question.

"She missing her parents?" April asked quietly.

"Yeah, but it's always the same, isn't it?" Donatello answered softly, "We just have to keep her distracted."

Daisy then wandered back over to her uncle and aunt before trying to climb onto the couch. April leant forward and kept her hands out just in case Daisy fell but the little turtle managed to get herself onto the couch, where she sat herself between them, holding a pink bear in her hands. It had a white chest, a yellow bow-tie and a big, warm smile, and Daisy held it so lovingly that her babysitters could already tell she loved it to pieces. Franklin, the turtle plushie she'd had from the day she hatched, always held a special place in her heart, though, and he was safely nestled in her bed, ready and waiting to join her for a bedtime story.

"Api, 'dis is Bub." Daisy said quietly, holding out the teddy bear to April.

"Bub?" April asked with a smile, "That's a nice name."

"T'anks." Daisy said, a smile now gracing her little face as she looked up at her aunt, "Mimi got him for me."

She couldn't grasp the words, ' _Uncle_ ' or ' _Aunt_ ' yet, and even though her family were trying to encourage her to use both of those words, it just didn't seem to be working. She still couldn't say their full names properly either, so she had her special nicknames, and everyone was quite happy for her to keep using them and to just keep trying to encourage her the best they could.

"Where's Mimi and Leo?" Daisy asked softly after a moment, taking the plushie back, "And where's Papa?"

"Papa's in his room." Donatello's voice was still soft as he took the plushie that Daisy handed to him, and put it in the armchair to his left. "Uncle Mimi and Uncle Leo have gone out too. So, it's just us. What would you like to do first?"

"I wan' play blocks." Daisy announced, hurriedly wiggling her way off of the couch to run to her box of building blocks that sat in the corner, her former upset seemingly forgotten.

She hurriedly pulled the box out and Donatello and April joined her on the floor as they each started to build a tower with the blocks. Daisy was very precise in how she stacked her blocks, and Donatello couldn't help but watch the tiny turtle with fascination as she continued to build her tower. He met eyes with April, who smiled brightly at him, reaching across with a gentle hand to touch her boyfriend's face. Maybe they could have a baby one day, so Daisy would have someone else to play with. Donatello wanted to marry April first and do things properly, but being with their niece like this made him want nothing more than to give them a baby of their own.

"Dee-Dee, I wan' juice." Daisy's voice brought Donatello out of his thoughts.

"Pardon?" Donatello asked her, arching an eye-ridge at her.

"I wan' juice, p'ease." Daisy corrected herself, causing Donatello to smile at her, nod and then hand her the sippy cup which sat on the coffee table, "T'anks, Dee-Dee."

"You're welcome, Daisy." Donatello replied softly, "Remember, drink it carefully."

Daisy hummed in response and started to drink the juice, gulping it down hard and fast before she then handed the cup back to Donatello, who placed it back on the coffee table. The next thing he knew, the little turtle was scrambling across his legs towards April, who caught her with a small laugh as the tot snuggled up to her with a big, somewhat sad sigh.

"Have you had enough of blocks now?" April asked quietly, earning a nod and a hum from the tot, "Okay, can you put the blocks away, please?"

"No! I no wanna!" Daisy huffed, getting up off of April's lap, only to be held still by the reporter, "No, Api!"

"Daisy-Mae, you are going to put your toys away." April repeated herself in a calm voice.

"No!" Daisy cried, breaking into sudden sobs, "No, I no wanna!"

"Daisy, if I have to ask you again, you'll go in the naughty corner." April said, looking down at the toddler sternly, "Please, put your blocks away."

Daisy's lip wobbled, she sniffled and rubbed her eyes, but she got up regardless and started to tidy up. Amelia had been trying this approach when Daisy was misbehaving, and it worked for the most part. The naughty corner was not somewhere that Daisy wanted to go, and after she'd tried to run away from it the first time, she'd learned very quickly not to do it again. Her father had been quick enough to catch her, put her back and continue to do so until she stayed there for the three minutes he'd put her in the corner for.

"Thank you." April said in a much softer tone, "Good girl."

"I wan' Mama..." Daisy sniffled as she put her blocks away, "I wan' Dada."

"I know, baby." April said gently, "I know. Mama and Daddy will be back soon, okay? And I don't want to have to tell them that you haven't been a good girl tonight when they come back."

"Sorry, Api." Daisy apologised quietly, rubbing her eyes again as she put the lid back on her toy box, and pushed it back to the corner of the room.

"That's alright." April said sweetly, watching the tot as she stumbled back over to her before giving her a loving hug, "I love you."

"Love you, Api."

Donatello went to get himself and April some coffee, while April busied herself with getting out Daisy's colouring book and crayons. Daisy liked to colour when she was tired, and it was an activity they could do together while she was becoming sleepy. The tantrum that April had just been able to avoid was a big telltale sign of how tired she was. Daisy was normally incredibly well-behaved, but when she was tired, she could be a nightmare, like a lot of children her age could be.

"Now, sweetie, I have to go to the bathroom. Uncle Donnie's in the kitchen, so you can start colouring and I'll be right back." April said softly, heading for the stairs before calling to Donatello who was making the coffee, "I'm just heading to the bathroom, honey."

"Alright." Donatello called back, turning to watch Daisy who was getting some of the crayons out of her box.

After a few moments, there was a bang, followed by a crashing sound, and then a high-pitched wail. Donatello instantly left the kitchen to go and see what had happened, and found Daisy on her front on the floor with crayons scattered everywhere, her plushie on the floor next to her, having fallen from where it had been sat in one of the armchairs, and a tray of wooden numbers and letters that Amelia had been using to teach Daisy to count and spell was now on its side with the wooden items also scattered across the floor.

Donatello scooped the toddler straight off the floor and sat on the couch with her on his knee, gently rubbing her shell as he shushed her and checked her over for any serious injury. She was so upset that she was screaming like she'd lost a limb, but Donatello knew that it was probably the shock of the fall that was causing the upset, rather than the pain.

"Alright, sweetie, let me look..." He told her, adjusting his hold on her, "Where does it hurt?"

Daisy shook, wailed and sobbed, pointing to her knees. Donatello could see carpet burns from the rug on her fragile skin, but it wasn't severe and would only warrant a dose of the ' _magic cream_ ' that the family often used when Daisy took a fall and scuffed her hands or knees. Her injuries rarely required anything more than a little rub and some soothing, so Donatello gingerly pretended to take the ' _magic cream_ ' out from his belt, and he showed it to Daisy, who stopped crying for a brief moment to look into the emptiness of his hand.

"Uncle Donnie's got some magic cream." He told her, kissing her forehead, "It'll make your knees feel better."

Daisy nodded, rubbing her eyes as Donatello pretended to unscrew the lid of the imaginary substance, pretended to get some onto his fingers, and then he started to carefully rub Daisy's knees, which seemed to soothe her. He knew that the ' _magic cream_ ' was nothing but a way of distracting her from the pain, but it worked every time, and the sooner the tot was smiling and happy again, the better.

After a few more moments of the rubbing motion, Daisy calmed down enough to tell her uncle what had happened. She'd been in such a rush to get her plushie that she'd tripped over the coffee table, and then landed haphazardly on the tray of letters and numbers that weren't tidied away, for whatever reason, and she'd scraped her knees on the rug. April, who was just returning from the bathroom, was by their side in an instant to find out what had happened. They set Daisy on the floor so that she could start her colouring, and April dragged Donatello to one side with a panicked look in her eyes.

"Raph and Amelia are gonna be so mad! I shouldn't have left her unattended!" She breathed, her eyes wide and frightened.

"You didn't leave her unattended." Donatello replied in a calmer tone, "I was here, and we can't keep our eyes on her twenty-four-seven. We can't put her in a bubble, you know? Raph and Amelia won't be mad. Kids have falls all the time."

"But, I should've been watching her!" April said, tears welling in her eyes, "I should've stayed with her 'til you were finished..."

"It's alright." Donatello was quick to soothe his girlfriend, pulling the beautiful reporter closer to him to embrace her, "You don't need to be upset, honey. You've done nothing wrong. Raph and Amelia know how clumsy Daisy can be sometimes. She just took a tumble, that's all. It's no-one's fault, okay? It was just an accident."

He kissed the side of her head for a few seconds and rubbed her back to calm her before they shared a sweet, tender kiss on the lips. Hearing a huff, Donatello looked over his shoulder to see Daisy gazing at them with a rather disgusted expression, and it caused April to lift her head from Donatello's chest, the tears fading from her eyes.

"Stop bein' icky, Api and come colour!" The tot called, her smile bright as she then looked at her uncle, "Stop bein' icky with Api, Dee-Dee."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Donatello apologised with humour in his voice as April moved to join the little girl on the rug again, "Would you like some more juice, Daisy?"

"P'ease." The little girl answered, settling herself on her aunt's lap as April got some crayons to start colouring before she whispered, "Kissin' boys is icky, Api."

"Oh, yeah?" April laughed, kissing Daisy on the crown of her head, "Why is it icky?"

"'Cause I said so." Daisy said nonchalantly.

"Oh, so does that mean your daddy, your uncles and your grandpa won't get kisses anymore?" April asked with wide eyes.

"No. They allowed kisses from me." Daisy explained, "Just you an' Mama gotta stop it, Api. It's icky when you and Mama do it."

April burst into laughter, as did Donatello, and as he handed April her coffee, he joined her on the floor so that he could watch what his niece and his girlfriend were colouring. He took in the sight of April colouring pictures with the little turtle, and he saw the contented smile on her face as Daisy leant back against her, chattering animatedly. Falling more in love with her than he ever had before, Donatello let out a dreamy sigh before he put his coffee safely out of the way, and started to clear up the mess of wooden numbers and letters that were still strewn about on the floor.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 6:**

 **Craft**

 **Approve**

 **Meet**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**


	6. Do You Approve?

**Chapter Summary:** Daisy learns a new word, and a very special event gives her the opportunity to use it.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, everyone! Sorry for the delay in updates. I've been trying to write the sequel to _Salvation_ , keep up with my drawing and painting practice, run my business and make sure that I keep up my weekly visits to various family members, so I've been extremely rushed off my feet and incredibly tired. It could be quite a while before I publish the sequel to _Salvation_ , but I'm making more progress than I have been for quite a while, so fingers crossed, it won't be too long. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy chapter seven of this delightful fic, which I'm having great fun writing :D

 **rinpup14:** Kids are pretty adorable. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for reviewing and voting! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **The Silvernote:** I had to whack some Apritello in there for you guys. I know how popular that pairing is :D I hope you like this chapter :D Thanks for the review!

 **NinjaTurtleLover001:** Lol, I may bring on genius babies... I don't know yet. I have to see where the prompts, votes and chapters eventually take us. Thanks for reviewing!

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Do You Approve? ~**

 **Prompt:** Approve

 **Daisy's Age:** 4 Years Old

Raphael had to smirk as he carefully walked down the stairs, watching Amelia and Daisy at the dining table as the young turtle had her lessons.

Amelia was pointing to a word on the page of the book that they were looking at, and Daisy was looking at it with deep concentration on her gorgeous little face, her pencil gripped tightly in her hand. This was one of the things that Raphael liked to see the most. Seeing his wife teaching their little girl all the things she'd need as an adult was wonderful. The ability to read and write hadn't come easily to him when he was growing up, and he'd had a lot of trouble coming to terms with the fact that he was a slower learner than his brothers, but he'd soon managed to get the hang of it. Daisy appeared to be doing very well and she wasn't struggling as he had been as he was growing up. He supposed he had Amelia to thank for the fact that their daughter was clever. Amelia was a very intelligent woman.

"App-rooooove." Daisy sounded out the word in her sweet little voice, and it earned a brilliant smile from her mother, who tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wow! Very good!" Amelia praised her, "Approve. Do you know what that means?"

Raphael's grin became even bigger as Daisy shook her head, her big blue eyes moving from the book in front of her to her mother. Amelia explained it very simply, as well as carefully and ensured that Daisy understood what she was talking about. The little turtle repeated the word and the definition, and Amelia smiled proudly before asking her to write the word in her book.

Daisy pulled her exercise book closer, looked at the spelling in the book that Amelia was using to teach her, and then started to try and copy the spelling with her tongue stuck out and her little brow furrowed in concentration. Raphael gazed at his wife with a warm, loving smile, earning an equally loving smile back. Daisy, noticing the look on her mother's face, turned around to see her father who was now approaching the table.

"Daddy!" She cried out joyously, "Daddy, look! I learned a big word!"

"Oh, yeah?" Raphael said with a quiet laugh, "How about you show me?"

"I'm writing it now..." Daisy said, turning her book to show him, "Approve."

"Wow, that _is_ a big word." Raphael told her with a grin, "What does it mean?"

"It means you're happy with somethin'." Daisy said with a proud smile, "Mama wants me to write it out five times."

"You're doing great, kiddo." Raphael praised her as enthusiastically as he could, "Keep that up and you'll be a genius like Uncle Donnie."

"You think so?" Daisy asked with bright eyes, "Uncle Donnie's the smartest person I know!"

"Yeah, he is pretty smart." Amelia laughed, clearing her throat, "Come on, honey. Keep up your writing. We only have a few minutes left of your lessons for the day."

"Oooh!" Daisy squealed, looking at her father with wide eyes, "Sorry, Daddy. I gotta work now."

"Alright, sweetheart." Raphael laughed, kissing Daisy's temple gently, "How about I get you and Mama something to drink?"

"Thank you." Amelia said sweetly, moving to look at Daisy's writing, "Oh, Daisy, your handwriting's getting so much better."

Raphael watched them for a moment as he moved to make Amelia some tea and to get Daisy's milkshake, which she always had straight after her lessons. He listened to the fun little conversations Daisy and her mother were having, and once again, the conversation turned to the upcoming hatching of Daisy's little brother or sister. Even though the baby's due date was almost upon them, it still hadn't quite sunk in with Raphael that he and Amelia were going back to changing diapers and night feeds. With Daisy to take care of too, it was going to be much more tiring than when she was born. Raphael could only hope that she'd adjust to having a new brother or sister, because he and Amelia already knew that they might not be able to give her as much attention as they usually did, especially within the first year. He knew how painful it was to think you were a second rate child and your sibling was the favourite. So did Amelia. They didn't want Daisy to go through anything like that.

Trying to concentrate on the rather sweet conversation occurring between his wife and daughter, Raphael got their drinks ready with another big, warm smile on his face. Once Daisy finished her work, the family sat around the dinner table and had their drinks, while Raphael and Amelia tried to make sure that Daisy didn't have any worries about the arrival of the new baby. They didn't want her to feel unsure about anything before the new baby was born.

"Sweetheart, is there anything you want to ask us about the baby?" Amelia asked her gently, reaching out to hold the child's tiny hand, "Anything at all?"

"Well..." Daisy trailed off, but her parents gave her a few moments to try and get her thoughts together and she soon found the courage to continue, "Does having a new baby mean that I won't get as many cuddles and kisses as I usually do?"

Raphael's heart lurched at the question. It hurt him so much to look at his daughter's beautiful little face, her eyes welling with tears and her mouth pulled into a mournful frown as though she was about to burst into sobs. He wanted anything but this... Her fear of being rejected was spoken so openly and so plainly, and the look on Amelia's face made things even worse. Amelia was devastated that Daisy was thinking like this and asking them this question.

"Oh, honey... No... No, don't you think that way." The blonde breathed out the words in a high-pitched voice that wavered with emotion, and straight away, she was out of her seat to go and hug the crying child who now sat there looking as though felt as if she'd done something wrong, "I promise you that Daddy and I will do everything we can to make sure that you get all the kisses and cuddles you need. It might be a little tough for all of us to begin with, and Daddy and I might be very tired, but that's because your little brother or sister won't be able to do certain things on their own like you can, so Daddy and I have to do everything for them. But that doesn't mean we love you any less, okay?"

The explanation brought relief to Daisy, and it was quite evident by the way that her shoulders sagged that she was overjoyed at her mother's words. Amelia gripped her tightly and pressed a kiss to her scarf-clad head, rubbing her shell to comfort her. Daisy then moved to hug her father, who sat her on his knee so that Daisy could hug him more comfortably, rather than having to stretch up towards him.

"Baby, you are looking forward to having a little brother or sister, aren't you?" Raphael asked, feeling anxiety settle into the pit of his stomach as she ducked her head, "We just want to know what you're feeling... You need to be honest with us."

"I'm happy that we're havin' a baby." Daisy said softly, "Really, Daddy, I am."

"Good." Raphael whispered, kissing her forehead, "'Cause your Mama and I are only happy if you're happy, you know that?"

"I love you, Daddy." Daisy whispered back, wrapping her arms tightly around Raphael's large neck to hug him, "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He said with a smile, carefully easing Daisy off his lap so that she could go and repeat the same sentiment to her mother, who embraced her warmly and lovingly.

Daisy and Raphael then headed to watch some cartoons with Michelangelo, who had just finished cleaning the dojo with Leonardo. Amelia started to prepare the family's lunch, with the help of her oldest brother, who she was teaching to cook since he was utterly terrible at it, but every so often, she couldn't help but turn to look at her husband and daughter as they happily talked together, and looked at some of Daisy's pictures as the cartoons played in the background.

* * *

At four-thirty in the morning, two days after these events, the family witnessed the hatching of their newest member, Bobby-George, who was named after Amelia's late grandfather. He took after his father in every respect, all except his fingers and toes, of which there were five on each hand and foot, just like Daisy's. When Leonardo had gone to get Daisy out of bed to take her to see her little brother come into the world, she'd been quite disgruntled about being woken so early, but when Leonardo explained that her new sibling was on the way, she didn't seem quite as annoyed.

Amelia, who was now holding the tiny baby turtle in her arms with tearful eyes and a beautiful smile, looked at Raphael who currently had their daughter sat on his knee, and gave him a tender nod to tell him it was alright for Daisy to hold her little brother.

Raphael had experienced his first cuddle with his son, and he'd been just as emotional as he had been when Daisy was born, and now he was feeling pretty choked up about the thought of seeing their daughter holding her baby brother and meeting him properly for the first time. Daisy, who was peering into the nest of blue and white blankets with amazement, looked up as her mother cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with her free hand.

"Daisy, would you like to hold your little brother?"

"I can cuddle him?" Daisy asked in a hushed voice, "Really, Mama?"

"Sure." Amelia said sweetly, watching Raphael carefully show Daisy how she needed to position her arms to hold the baby, "You ready?"

Daisy nodded eagerly, and Amelia carefully placed the sleeping baby in her arms. Raphael had his hands held out just in case he needed to support Daisy, but she seemed to have it all under control. He carefully moved her left arm so she could support Bobby-George's head, and after about ten seconds of having her brother in her arms, Daisy gave a very excited, very sweet smile, and then proceeded to burst into tears.

"What's the matter?" Amelia asked, tenderly starting to rub the child's shell to soothe her.

"He's so cute!" Daisy wailed, leaning down to kiss Bobby-George on the head, "I love him so much!"

"So, do you approve?" Raphael asked her with a grin.

"Oh, Daddy, he's beautiful!" Daisy cried, sniffling as her father moved to gently brush her tears away with his index finger, "I really do approve, I promise."

The baby then started to cry, and because he was crying, Daisy started to cry harder. She hated it and couldn't stand it that something was upsetting her baby brother, so Amelia took him from her to check what was wrong with him, and Raphael sat Daisy back on his knee to comfort her and give her a loving kiss on her tear-soaked cheek.

"It's okay, Bobby-George!" Daisy called to her brother as Amelia got up with him to take a bottle of formula from Donatello, "Mama's gonna feed you and you're gonna be fine, I promise!"

"He's already fine, sweetie." Raphael reassured her quietly, "Don't get upset, okay? The only way he can tell us what's going on with him right now is by crying. It's alright."

"Do you want to give him the bottle?" Amelia asked, settling back down with the tiny baby in her arms.

Daisy's face lit up and she hurriedly wiped her eyes, nodding in response to her mother's offer. Amelia showed her how to feed her little brother, and Daisy did it fantastically well for her first attempt. Once he was fed, Bobby-George was burped by Amelia, and Daisy appeared to be falling asleep. With her being dragged out of bed so early to meet her baby brother, it was no wonder that her lack of sleep was catching up with her.

"Time for bed, little flower." Raphael chuckled, scooping his daughter up into his arms.

"No, I wanna stay with my brother..." Daisy murmured, her protest weak and slurred due to her exhaustion.

"I promise, you can come and see your brother as soon as you've had some sleep, okay? It's really early." Raphael whispered to her, "Come on. Bedtime."

"Lemme kiss 'im..." She mumbled, "And Mama."

Raphael knelt down with Daisy held to his chest, and Amelia leant across to kiss her cheek, while Daisy then leant over to kiss Bobby-George's forehead as the little turtle slept peacefully in his mother's arms.

"Night, night, Bobby-George." Daisy whispered, "Night, night, Mama."

"Goodnight, baby." Amelia whispered in return, "I love you."

"I love you too, Mama." Daisy's voice was soft as she nuzzled sleepily into her father's waiting arms, "Love you, Daddy. Love you, Bobby-George."

Raphael shared a tender look with his wife before he carried their little girl to her bedroom to get her back to sleep for a few hours. As he carried her upstairs, he rubbed her shell to try and lull her to sleep, all while trying to quell the excitement in his heart at the thought of what new adventures would come with the arrival of his son.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 7:**

 **Tired**

 **Separation**

 **Fallout**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	7. So Tired

**Chapter Summary:** Bobby-George is restless, Daisy is demanding, and Raphael and Amelia are at the end of their tethers...

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N (Please Read):** Hi, everyone. I'm back with another chapter, but I do need to warn you that this one is quite angsty. I'm in a dark place right now, and I'm having to claw my way out of it, which is incredibly difficult. I'm trying to work on art, my business and the sequel to **_Salvation_** all at once, and I'm just exhausted. For anyone who's interested, I'm actually putting together a **' _Secrets/Changes/Growing Pains Sketchdump_** _ **'**_ which will be uploaded to my Deviantart Gallery upon completion. If you're interested in checking out any of the art I've done of Raphael, Amelia and Daisy so far, you can look at my Deviantart profile to see that. You'll find me under _**RosesandThorns666**_. If you'd like to see anything particular on the sketchdump, please let me know in a PM or a review, and I'll try and fit it on there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for reading my ramblings above :D

 **rinpup14:** I'm glad you loved it! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

 **The Silvernote:** Yes, Bobby-George was someone you've been waiting quite a while for, huh? I'm glad you're happy that he's here. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for reviewing my fics!

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for reviewing and voting. As for Donnie's next story, I can't say when it'll be published. Like I said above, I've got so much going on now that it's hard to find the energy and time to write, but I'm doing my best. I'm on the eighth chapter, and I'm hoping to do between twenty and thirty chapters given the amount of content going into this story, so... It could be quite a while, but I'm doing my best.

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ So Tired ~**

 **Prompt:** Tired

 **Daisy's Age:** 4 Years Old

 **Bobby George's Age:** 2 weeks old.

Bobby-George had been in the world for two weeks, and already, he wasn't making life very easy for his family.

Amelia hadn't slept for going on forty hours, and Raphael wasn't far behind her. Daisy was pulling every extra bit of energy that they had because she was either hyper, needy or being downright naughty, which was very out of character for her. After almost two whole days of screaming, it was concluded that on this particular weekend, Bobby-George was just plain mad at the world he'd hatched into a couple of weeks prior.

Raphael was sitting in an armchair, trying to concentrate on anything but the sound of his son screaming. Amelia was sitting with him held to her chest, her eyes black with exhaustion and her body weak and sagging through her tiredness. They'd tried everything. They'd winded him, changed him, fed him, attempted to settle him down for a nap, and even taken him to Donatello to see if there was something medically wrong with their little boy. Nothing seemed to soothe his screams, and everyone in the lair was tense because of it. Daisy, however, didn't seem to know this, because she'd decided that now was the right time to start harassing her parents for attention.

"Mama! Mama! Come read to me!" She demanded, skipping around the sofa to where her almost distraught mother sat, "I want you to read to me!"

Amelia looked at her with those dark eyes and cleared her throat to prepare to talk over Bobby-George's hysterical screaming. It really was awful to listen to because there was clearly nothing that would soothe him, and Amelia hated not being able to help her baby or comfort him like this.

"Later, baby..." Amelia said, "I'm trying to calm your brother down."

"But I want you to read to me!" Daisy said, her face crumpling as she started to pout, "Give him to Daddy! I want you to read to me!"

"Daisy, I said later." Amelia replied, clutching the baby tighter as his wails seemed to increase in volume, "I'm busy right now."

"You're always too busy!" Daisy complained, stamping her feet, "Always!"

The sound that followed this little outburst startled not only Amelia, Daisy and Bobby-George but everyone else in the lair as well. Raphael, who had been sitting there trying to keep his temper, and trying to not flip out at his daughter basically berating his already emotionally battered and physically exhausted wife, got out of his seat so fast that the armchair shot backwards partially across the floor. He was exhausted, Amelia was exhausted and Daisy was behaving like a spoilt brat rather than the polite, patient kid that the family had brought her up to be. He just couldn't take the stress or the tension anymore and before he could stop himself, he'd lost control of his temper for the first time in months.

" _ENOUGH_!" He roared, temporarily startling the crying baby into silence, but only for a few seconds, "For the love of God! Enough!"

Daisy then proceeded to burst into tears, clearly frightened by the sudden display of aggression from her father. Amelia stared at him with both shock and horror plastered across her face, and she reached out to pull the now crying four-year-old closer to her to try and calm her down. Raphael's hulking chest heaved with each breath, his eyes almost glowing with anger.

"Amelia, please, do something with him!" He yelled again, "He's driving me crazy!"

"What do you think he's doing to me?!" Amelia suddenly screamed, oblivious to the fact that now, various heads were poking around doors to see what was going on, "I've tried everything! What the hell do you expect me to do?!"

Daisy was now wailing and sobbing, clutching at her mother's shirt with fat tears streaming down her little face. Leonardo was the first one brave enough to step towards the pair, quickly followed by Donatello. Daisy ran straight to Leonardo with her arms outstretched, desperate to be away from the ensuing argument, while Donatello went to take Bobby-George who was now screaming louder than he had been before. Amelia pulled away from him, keeping the baby clutched to her chest.

"You've been sat on your ass for the past six hours while I've been dealing with this! How about you take your damn turn?!" Amelia yelled, "We're supposed to be a team, Raph! I can't work miracles! I've tried everything I can to calm him down! What more do you want from me?!"

She lost her battle with her emotions almost instantly, and she burst into tears as well. Raphael stared at her blankly, while trying to process what she'd just said to him. He was dealing with his son's screaming, which was hard enough to deal with on its own since there was nothing they could do to help him or make him better. He was now also having to listen to Daisy wailing because he'd frightened the hell out of her, and his wife was in tears because of him. Of course, like always, everything was his fault.

"Well, if I'm such a terrible father then you clearly don't need me around!" His voice was now laced with venom as well as anger, "You're clearing doing a bang-up job on your own. Mother of the year!"

Amelia flinched, and it didn't go unnoticed by anybody in the room. Now that Raphael had finished roaring at his wife, Daisy's soft sobs, and Bobby-George's cries and coughs were the only sounds that could be heard in that room. With tears streaming down her flushed face, Amelia stared in utter horror at her husband while clutching their crying child to her chest. Without a word, she turned on her heel with the baby and walked towards their bedroom, her face still holding that expression of pure shock and horror at what he'd just said to her.

Raphael looked at his family, chest heaving and face twisted with rage before he turned on his heel and marched defiantly out of the lair. In the awful silence that they'd been left in, the others all stared at each other in shock and disbelief at what had just happened. Upstairs, in the room that she and her husband shared, Amelia slowly sat down on the bed with Bobby-George in her arms, who was still crying, and she leant her head against her son's with tear-soaked cheeks. She hushed the child so gently, whispering apologies to him over and over again.

She never wanted either of her children to witness something like that between herself and Raphael. She'd tried so hard to protect both Daisy and Bobby-George from any negativity between her and her husband, and she'd failed. She'd _failed_ their babies. Almost as if he knew that his mother was also in great distress, Bobby-George reached up and tenderly touched Amelia's face. The young woman then held him tighter and cried shamelessly against her son's skin. She was worried about Daisy too, even though she knew Leonardo would be taking care of her, and she felt so much guilt that she wanted to throw up.

After what felt like hours, a knock came at the bedroom shutter, and it opened to reveal a very concerned looking Donatello and a very upset looking April. Donatello slowly approached the bed and gestured for Amelia to hand Bobby-George to him. Amelia knew that he was going to take the baby so that she and April could talk about what had just happened. She and April sometimes shared secrets that even Raphael and Donatello didn't know about, so she wasn't surprised that April had come to comfort her.

Not speaking a word, Amelia kissed her son tearfully and handed him to his uncle, who stopped to stroke his hand over Amelia's head in a tender gesture, before heading out of the room with a slightly calmer Bobby-George in his arms. Once the shutter was closed behind him, Amelia looked up at April, and she simply collapsed into tears, sobs and grief.

April eased herself forward with a sorrowful look in her eyes, and she sat beside the distraught young woman, before pulling her into an almost motherly embrace. Anyone who'd seen that argument knew that it was caused by one hell of a lot of pent up stress and exhaustion. They knew that Amelia hadn't called Raphael a bad father at all and that the only reason Raphael hadn't helped out that morning was because his nerves simply couldn't handle it. He couldn't bear to hear his child screaming like that. They also knew that Raphael hadn't meant a word that he'd said. They knew he'd come back within a few hours, feeling guiltier than sin, and that he and Amelia would make up.

But for Amelia, who was both exhausted, stressed and now deeply hurt, April knew that this situation wasn't as clear cut as everyone else thought it was. So, April did what she did best. She comforted and soothed Amelia the best that she could, hoping and praying that Raphael would return sooner rather than later to make it up with his wife.

* * *

To say that Vern was surprised to find a hulking great turtle in his apartment when he returned from grocery shopping was an understatement. The very last person he'd expected to see sitting on his couch, with one of his beers in his hand, was Raphael. Unnerved, and frankly very nervous, Vern locked the apartment door and eased towards the enormous reptile, who finished the bottle of beer in his hand and threw it towards the waste basket that Vern had sitting near his television.

"Uh... This is an unexpected surprise..." He said quietly, earning a grunt from Raphael, "What's going on, big guy? It's not like you to make house calls."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't go anywhere else." Raphael said darkly, looking over at the cameraman who eyed him warily, "I ain't going back home. I just need a place to crash for a couple of nights while I scout out some place else."

Vern knew he'd have to ask what Raphael meant by ' _I ain't going back home_.' He wasn't exactly prepared to let the gigantic turtle crash in his spare bedroom without an explanation as to why he was there. Raphael always made him nervous, just because he had such a terrible temper. And the bestiality joke that he'd made several years earlier hadn't helped matters either.

"What do you mean, you're not going back home?" The cameraman asked as he quickly finished unpacking the small bag of groceries, "What happened?"

Grabbing a beer to brace himself for the tidal wave of unpleasantness that he was about to be hit with, Vern walked over to where Raphael was watching the highlights of the previous night's football game, and sat down next to him gingerly.

"Bobby-George has been screaming for almost two days straight. The kid won't let up, and he's getting worse." Raphael said with a shake of his head, "Then Daisy started to have a tantrum because Amelia wouldn't read to her. It's getting fucking _unbearable_. So, Amelia's got Bobby-George on her knee, and basically, I tell her to calm him down, because I swear to God, at this point, the kid's driving _everyone_ fucking insane. It's pretty fucking _awful_ to have to sit there and listen to him screaming like that."

Vern took a drink of his beer. Already he could see where the fight had come from. Raphael didn't get to curse much these days since everyone was trying to protect the children from such language, so Vern was hardly surprised that it was coming out now in droves. Just from his words, he could tell that Amelia wouldn't have taken too kindly to being spoken to in that way, and being asked by Raphael to basically shut their child up.

"And Amelia has the fucking cheek to call me out and tell me I should be helping more. Like I'm some fucking lazy bum of a father who does nothing for his kids." Raphael continued, "So, I told her that if I was such a bad dad, she didn't need me around. And I left. I've got no intention of going back."

"Oh, come on." Vern actually laughed at Raphael's last words, "You're not seriously gonna up and leave your wife and children over a petulant fight, are you? Dude, that's one hell of a dick move... And that's coming from me."

"Well, she thinks I'm no good for her or our kids." Raphael replied with a growl, "So, I'm gone. Whatever. She can deal with that shit on her own if that's how she feels."

Vern took yet another drink of beer, trying to think of how to react to that, and what to say without Raphael turning on him and hitting him in the face. It was plainly obvious that Raphael wasn't thinking clearly. Vern knew full well that he wasn't about to up and leave the woman he loved _and_ their babies. Raphael loved Amelia, Daisy and Bobby-George more than anything. He'd take a bullet for all of them, and everyone knew as much, so Vern was quite satisfied that it was just his anger talking. And Vern wasn't prepared to let Raphael stay the night when Amelia would be at home trying to take care of two children by herself. He _would_ take a hit to the face for that. That didn't mean, however, that Raphael didn't need time to calm down.

So, going to get them both another beer, Vern started to think about how he might be able to help sort this mess out.

* * *

After Amelia had managed to get an hour or so of sleep, she made her way towards Leonardo's room, where Daisy and her uncle were busy doing a jigsaw puzzle together. She opened the shutter slowly, gazing at her daughter with tear-soaked eyes and a heavy heart as the little girl solemnly put pieces of the jigsaw together. Leonardo met Amelia's gaze and offered her a weak, but consoling smile as he then tapped Daisy on the shoulder, pointing towards the door.

Daisy looked up at her mother and Amelia's heart broke when she saw how distraught her baby looked. Without hesitation, Daisy was scooped up into Amelia's arms, and the young mother held her tightly, apologising over and over into the pink and white bandanna that covered Daisy's head.

"I'm so sorry." She breathed out, holding the little turtle tighter to her body, "I love you so much."

"I'm sorry, Mama." Daisy whispered, clinging tightly to her mother, "I was real mean to you."

"That's okay, baby." Amelia promised, kissing her head, "I know that it's been so hard for you lately. Your daddy and I are trying so hard for both you and your brother, but we're both so tired, you know? Daddy didn't mean to shout like that earlier. You know that, right?"

"Where is Daddy?" Daisy asked, looking at her mother tearfully, "Why did he run away from us?"

Amelia looked to Leonardo, her heart shattering all over again at her daughter's question. Leonardo, knowing that Amelia was too upset to answer, encouraged Daisy back to him as Amelia set her on the floor. The little turtle obediently went to him and Leonardo sat her on his knee, tilting her head up by gently taking her chin in his thumb and index finger so that they were looking at each other.

"Your daddy ran away because he got scared." Leonardo said softly, "You were crying, your brother was crying, and your mama was crying. To your daddy, that's the most horrible thing in the world. He doesn't want to see you guys crying like that."

Amelia moved forward to kneel beside them, listening as Leonardo carefully explained everything to Daisy in a way that they knew she'd understand, and so that they didn't make her feel any more upset than she already had been.

"So, when your little brother's been crying for almost two whole days, and Daddy can't do anything to make him feel better, he gets scared. The only thing your daddy wants is for you guys to be happy. And if he can't make you happy, he doesn't know what to do." Leonardo explained, "Now, I know he yelled at you, okay? And I know he seemed really mad, but he loves you all so much. You know he loves you, don't you?"

Daisy nodded tearfully, rubbing at her eyes as though she was trying to hide it. Heart lurching, Amelia reached for her child, who crawled across to her mother and cuddled up to her closely, looking back at her uncle with those big blue eyes of hers.

"Your daddy will come back in a little while when he's calmed down, and all he'll want is to cuddle you, your mama and your little brother." Leonardo said softly, "So, you need to give him the biggest cuddle you can manage and you need to tell him that you love him. Okay? Because sometimes, your daddy needs taking care of too, just like you, your mama and Bobby-George need taking care of."

Daisy nodded again, scrambling back across to Leonardo to hug him tightly. Amelia took the opportunity to then go to her son, while Daisy was content to be with her uncle until her daddy came back.

* * *

The later it got, the more Amelia worried about where Raphael was.

It was almost time for Daisy to go to bed, and she didn't want their little girl to go to bed worried and upset because her daddy hadn't come home. The little turtle was sat with her grandfather, watching cartoons with her plushie held tightly in her arms. Bobby-George, who was finally quiet, was being fed by Michelangelo, while Leonardo was holding Amelia's hand and rubbing her back as she was hit by another onset of tears. Daisy looked across at her mother in alarm and shuffled carefully from Splinter's lap to go and embrace the distraught woman.

Just as Amelia rested her head on Daisy's shoulder, she opened her eyes to see none other than an unusually upset looking Raphael standing in one of the lower entrances to the lair near the far wall that she was facing with a huge bouquet of flowers in his hand. Beside him was Vern, who took the flowers from him and nodded towards Amelia and Daisy so that Raphael could go to them. Daisy, upon seeing her father, let out a shriek of his name and started sprinting towards him at a speed that no-one had seen her move before. Raphael dropped to his knees and caught her before lifting her into his arms, holding her tightly and pressing kiss after kiss to her bare head as he apologised to her over and over again.

"I'm so sorry I yelled at you, baby." He told her, rubbing her shell as she planted a kiss on his bandanna-clad head, "I'm so, so sorry."

"I love you so much, Daddy." Daisy told him, kissing him again, "I love you."

"I love you too." Raphael answered her with a lump in his throat, looking up as Michelangelo moved towards him with Bobby-George in his arms.

Daisy was set on the floor, only for her to go running to Vern to embrace him, and Raphael took Bobby-George from his younger brother. Michelangelo, rather than being angry with his brother for running out on his wife and kids like that, simply put a comforting hand on Raphael's shoulder and squeezed, before backing away to let him reunite with his baby boy. Raphael brought the baby to his shoulder and kissed him, apologising to him and telling him that he loved him too. Amelia managed to get to her feet, looking more exhausted and more upset than Raphael had ever seen her, and as Leonardo carefully took Bobby-George from him, Vern handed him the flowers which Raphael then gingerly held towards Amelia with apologetic eyes.

She wanted to push him away and to punish him for leaving them, but after listening to how Leonardo had explained everything to Daisy, she knew that the eldest brother was right. Raphael had just been exhausted and scared. He handled the situation in an awful way but so had she. She knew how hard it was for him when their children were upset. She knew how he hated it when he couldn't make it better. So, rather than being petulant, she took the bouquet of lilies from her almost tearful husband and then pulled him closer to embrace him. He held her so tightly, breathing in the scent of her honey-blonde hair as she looked over his shoulder to Vern, thanking him with a very tearful smile. Vern, who was now holding Daisy in his arms, nodded to her with a small smile of his own.

"I'm so sorry." Raphael breathed out, "I love you so, so much."

"I'm sorry too." Amelia whispered, pressing her lips to his cheek, "And I love you more than you'll ever know. We were so worried about you."

"I shouldn't have left you guys like that." He answered her, savouring the feeling of her silky locks against his fingers, "I'm just so tired and I was so stressed... I know it's no damn excuse but..."

"Shhh..." Amelia soothed him with a tighter embrace, "I'm just glad you're home."

After a few moments of embracing, Amelia went to put the flowers in a vase while Raphael took Daisy to her room for her bedtime story. When he was out of sight, and when Amelia was returning from the kitchen to put the vase on the coffee table, she was met with Vern, who was taking Bobby-George from Leonardo to give his nephew a cuddle.

"Vern?" She said softly, catching his attention, "Thank you... Thank you so much. Where'd you find him?"

"He actually came to me." Vern replied with a shrug, "He was pretty torn up about what had happened."

"I thought he wasn't going to come back." The young woman admitted, biting her lip, "And even if he did, I didn't think it'd be so soon..."

"Yeah, I talked him around." Vern reassured her, "Reminded him of what he'd be leaving behind if he decided not to come back... But, I knew he'd come back, 'cause he loves you, Daisy, and this little guy too much to leave you. He was devastated when he realised what he'd done."

"Thanks for taking care of him for me." Amelia said softly, giving Vern a hug while being careful of her son, who was calmly lying in the crook of the cameraman's arm.

Vern was rather shocked by the contact since Amelia had never hugged him before except on her wedding day, but he embraced her with one arm in return before handing her son back to her. Bobby-George cooed as he was placed in his mother's arms, and Amelia smiled warmly at him as he curled into her embrace.

"No problem." Vern said quietly, "You need anything, let me know."

Amelia nodded, holding her little boy close as Vern said his goodbyes to the others and headed out of the lair. Even though in her heart, she knew that Splinter, Leonardo, April, Michelangelo and Donatello would have their own choice words for her husband, and even though she still felt angry with him for leaving her and their children like that, she was so grateful that he'd come back that she just couldn't bring herself to show him so.

When Daisy had fallen asleep, Raphael joined her in the living area, and the two were left alone by the rest of the family to talk about what had happened and to appreciate and enjoy the time they had with their son before he finally fell asleep.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 8:**

 **Ready**

 **Thoughtful**

 **Storm**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	8. Taking Care of Mama

**Chapter Summary:** It appears that Daisy is a lot more perceptive than people believe her to be, and when her mother is taken unexpectedly ill, she shows her family just how thoughtful she can be as well.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, guys! Thanks so much for the support so far, and for your patience with everything at the moment. I know Donnie's sequel's taking a long time to come out, and I know some of you are desperately waiting for it, but I'm so tied up with a multitude of things, and my life's so stressful at the moment that it's hard to find the energy and the time to write. I'm doing my best, I want it to be the best quality it can be, and I can tell you I'm on chapter 9 now and I'm not far from completing that, so I'm predicting anything between 10-15 more chapters to write and then I'll be publishing. There could potentially be more than that as I have a lot planned for it and I have to somehow get it all in there :D

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I promise that after this one, things will have a less dark tone to them and there'll be lots more cuteness and fun.

 **rinpup14:** I was the younger sibling in my family so I don't know how it felt for my sister to not be the only child anymore, but I can understand that it's hard. Thanks for reviewing :D

 **The Silvernote:** Yeah, it was a pretty dickish move from him, but I'm sure every parent's been through stress like that, so it is kind of understandable. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter.

 **Stephanie Phelps:** Thanks for voting and reviewing! I hope you like this chapter and I'm glad you liked the last one too :D

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ Taking Care of Mama ~**

 **Prompt:** Thoughtful

 **Daisy's Age:** 4 Years Old

 **Bobby George's Age:** 1 month old

Since Bobby-George's hatching, Amelia had been working herself into a state of exhaustion, just as she had for the first few months after Daisy's hatching.

The task of caring for not just one, but two young children was something that she was trying to accomplish almost completely on her own. She didn't let Raphael get up in the night with Bobby-George, she always offered to change his diapers herself, and during all of this, she still gave Daisy her lessons, made the family's meals, bathed the children, played with them, read to them, put them to bed, and often she was running on as little two hours of sleep.

Raphael felt that he was partially responsible for her working herself half to death thanks to his comment a couple of weeks before during the horrendous fight they'd had. ' _Mother of the year_ ' was what he'd called her, and he'd done so in a way that made it sound as though he was being sarcastic and deliberately hurtful, which had clearly hit quite the nerve with his wife. Her own mother had been useless, unfeeling, uncaring and selfish, and the last thing that Amelia wanted to be was like her mother.

It was a normal morning. Daisy was ready for her lessons, Bobby-George was fed, changed and currently enjoying some bonding time with his grandfather, Raphael was helping Donatello fix one of the lair's ground floor entrances, and Leonardo and Michelangelo were cleaning the dojo. Amelia, who was sitting at the dining table with Daisy's books in front of her, was looking pale and utterly exhausted.

"Okay, sweetie..." She said quietly, looking around the table for her lesson plan, "Today, we're going to do some math and some writing."

She looked under Daisy's exercise books, under the textbooks that sat on the desk, and even within the books themselves, but she just couldn't find her lesson plan. She relied on it so much lately because she'd been so tired and forgetful, what with the new baby to take care of, and she realised that she must've left it in her office.

"Right, I have to go and look in my office for our lesson ' _To Do'_ list, so if you like, you can doodle on your whiteboard for a few minutes." The young woman said kindly, handing Daisy her whiteboard and a whiteboard marker to draw with, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay, Mama." Daisy said sweetly, watching her mother get out of the seat and move towards her office.

Daisy's brow furrowed a little as she saw her mother stop just by the door, lean towards the wall for a moment, and then walk a little shakily into her office. She bit her lip nervously. Daisy knew a lot more than her family gave her credit for. Even at four years of age, she was very perceptive, and she knew that something wasn't quite right with her mother. Since Bobby-George came along, Amelia always said that she felt tired, she often looked sickly and pale as she did that morning, and Daisy had even noticed that sometimes, her mother didn't eat her lunch or her dinner. Usually, that was because Bobby-George needed something, or because Daisy had asked her for something and Daisy realised that her mother had started to forget to eat.

She always assumed, however, that when she hurried off to play, or when someone else took Bobby-George after he'd had his bottle, that Amelia ate her meals later, or that someone else made sure that she got something to eat. But now, looking at her mother's pale, thin face and seeing the way that she was stumbling about made Daisy wonder if she had been eating after all.

Donatello had always made a point of telling Daisy how important it was to eat all of her food, and how important it was that she didn't miss a meal. He told her about how not eating could make her really unwell, and that it was important to eat the right things so that she stayed healthy. Of course, Daisy didn't always understand what he was talking about, but she did understand that it was bad to not eat her food.

The sound of Bobby-George squealing brought Daisy from her thoughts, and she looked towards her grandfather, who was then carefully bringing her little brother up to his shoulder to soothe him as he started to cry. Daisy swallowed hard, startled momentarily by her brother's cry before she turned back to the office where her mother had just disappeared into.

Something wasn't right... She just knew in her heart that something wasn't right. Biting her lip, Daisy left her seat at the kitchen table and gingerly stepped towards the office, almost terrified that she'd be scolded if she was caught leaving the table when it was her lesson time. To her right, her father and second-youngest uncle were still working on the shutter, and she heard her daddy grumbling as her uncle searched through his various tools for the right thing to keep the shutter held up so that he could fix the sensor that had been causing the problem.

Poking her head around the office door, Daisy couldn't see her mother. For whatever reason, this made her heart beat even harder in her chest and she was filled with a fear that she'd never felt before. Even in her scariest nightmares, she was never as frightened as this. Bravely, the little turtle stepped further into the room, swallowing down the fear that was crawling up her throat to try and call to her mother.

"Mama?"

No answer. Moving towards the desk, Daisy felt even more frightened because her mother wasn't responding. Then, she saw her mother's blue and white sneakers poking out from behind the desk, the left leg of her black yoga pants pulled slightly upward to reveal a black sock and the soft, pale flesh of her calf. Daisy, now panicked, hurried towards Amelia, who was laying on her stomach, her honey-blonde hair hiding her face from Daisy's view. There was a piece of paper in her hand, and her body wasn't moving.

"Mama?" Daisy asked again, now moving to kneel by Amelia's prone form, "Mama, wake up..."

She shook Amelia's shoulders and then moved her hair to look at her, only to find her mother's eyes closed, and her pale lips parted slightly. Daisy shook her again, becoming more and more frantic as she wasn't getting an answer. Then, she remembered her daddy and her uncle were close by, as well as her grandfather and she knew that her mother needed help, and needed it fast. Getting to her feet, now with tears falling down her face and with sobs of terror beginning to wrack her little body, Daisy sprinted out of the office, wailing in pure terror for her father.

"Daddy!" She screamed, sobbing hard as she ran towards the hulking turtle whose head had snapped around at the sound, "Daddy!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Raphael looked just as panicked as Daisy as he knelt down to catch his clearly petrified child, "What's wrong?"

"D-Daddy!" Daisy almost collapsed on him, barely able to breathe for her sobs and wails as big, fat tears rolled down her flushed cheeks, "M-Mama... Y-You gotta help Mama... I can't wake her up, Daddy... She's not wakin' up!"

Raphael instantly scooped his daughter into his arms, getting to his feet with her held tightly to his chest. He felt the same horrid fear that he'd felt four years before when Amelia had been found under a pile of rubble in their old home, unconscious, unmoving and not breathing. Sometimes he found himself checking on her in the night to make sure that she was still breathing if he woke from some horrific nightmare about what had happened that day, and how he'd almost lost both his wife and his three-month-old daughter. Now, hearing that Daisy couldn't wake Amelia up, that fear flooded him again, gripping his heart like a vice.

"Where is she?!" He demanded, frantically searching his daughter's eyes for any kind of indication, while he heard Donatello quickly set down whatever he had in his hands, "Baby, where is she?!"

"In her room!" Daisy wailed, pointing to the office, "In there!"

Raphael kissed Daisy's cheek to try and offer her some kind of comfort before setting her on the floor and rushing to the office with Donatello in tow. Daisy hurried after them as Splinter was getting out of his seat with the baby, and she heard her grandfather calling for her other uncles in a tone of voice she'd never heard before. His words were short, sharp and full of what Daisy thought was fear. He was scared too... Her grandfather never got scared... She turned her head back to the office to see Raphael knelt by her mother with Donatello bringing his goggles down over his eyes, both of them calling her mother's name.

"Amelia?" Raphael was almost yelling out of pure fright as he moved her hair out of her face again just had Daisy had done before, "Can you hear me, darlin'?"

"Her blood pressure's very low right now, and I bet her blood sugar level's not great either." Donatello mumbled, raising his goggles again, "Amelia?"

He heard Amelia murmur, and he knew that he needed to get the blood flowing back to her brain to help her regain consciousness. So, he rolled her onto her back, moved so that he was on his knees beside her, and carefully lifted her legs upwards and supported them against his shoulder. He looked up as he heard Michelangelo gently speaking to Daisy, and watched his little brother lift the distraught child into his arms to cuddle her while Leonardo stepped into the office to see what was going on.

Raphael had taken the cushion that Amelia sometimes had in her office chair and placed it beneath her head so she wasn't laying on the hard floor, and he was speaking to her to try and encourage her to come round. No-one knew exactly what had happened or why Amelia was like this, and everyone was deeply concerned, but Leonardo, Michelangelo and Splinter all knew that Donatello and Raphael needed to bring Amelia back to consciousness before they started bombarding them with questions.

"Amelia...?" Raphael's voice was so gentle, "Come on, sweetheart... Open your eyes for me..."

She murmured again, her eyes fluttering and hands twitching as she tried to move. Raphael hushed her softly and moved to stroke her hair in an effort to keep her still, while Daisy sobbed and hiccuped in Michelangelo's arms, terrified by the sight of her mother unable to move or even open her eyes. The orange-clad turtle knew that he, his brothers and his father were all just as scared as Daisy was, but he also knew that she needed comfort and support in that moment, so he carefully rubbed her shell and gave her loving, comforting kisses which were pressed to her cheeks carefully so as not to startle her, and he bounced her like he used to do when she was a toddler because he knew it might help her settle down.

"No, no, no, don't move..." Raphael's voice was soft but panicked as he spoke to Amelia, reaching to take her hand so that he could comfort her, "We need you to stay still... I just want you to open your eyes for me."

"Leo, I need you to bring the medical bed and a bottle of water from the fridge." Donatello said softly, looking away from Amelia for a moment towards his brothers and father, "Mikey, could you take Daisy outside, please?"

" _No_! Mama!" Daisy cried hysterically, fighting against Michelangelo with every ounce of strength her little body possessed, "I wanna be with Mama!"

"You can be with her soon, okay, munchkin?" Michelangelo said gently, carrying her out to the living area, "Just let Daddy and Uncle Donnie take care of her."

Splinter also followed them out with Bobby-George still in his arms, carefully patting the now snuffling baby's shell as he went, leaving Donatello and Raphael alone to try and properly wake Amelia. Her eyes rolled a little before they opened, and it was quite obvious from the mournful groan she unleashed that she was feeling very unwell, and probably rather scared too.

"Shhh, we've got you..." Raphael promised her, "It's okay, baby, we're gonna take care of you..."

"Amelia, do you know what happened?" Donatello asked her, keeping her legs supported.

"Felt sick..." Amelia murmured, swallowing hard as Raphael continued to tenderly run his fingers across her forehead and through her hair, "Felt dizzy... Then..."

She weakly lifted her left hand and then made a flopping motion with it, to demonstrate that she passed out. It was evident that she'd simply fainted, either through stress, exhaustion or both, given her physical and reported symptoms. Donatello was quite confident that it wasn't anything more serious, and the look of relief on his face seemed to make Raphael feel a little better.

"When was the last time you ate?" Donatello asked quietly, bringing his goggles back down to check her vitals.

"Don't remember..." Amelia murmured, squeezing Raphael's hand with an unusually weak grasp, "I don't know..."

Donatello frowned at Raphael as he lifted his goggles back up, watching his big brother run a hand over his face with a look of both horror and resignation plastered across his features. Both brothers knew that she'd clearly been skipping meals, and Raphael, in particular, knew why. His head was swimming with regrets about what he'd said two weeks earlier. He knew that he was probably the reason that she'd stopped eating to take care of her children. She was often up at all hours with them, doing as much as she could on her own without anyone else's help.

Leonardo returning with the bed and some water broke the horrible silence that the room was now filled with, and he handed the water to Donatello who made sure that Amelia took a long drink of it before they moved her. Raphael, devastated and concerned, picked Amelia up carefully and eased her onto the bed before Donatello and Leonardo wheeled her out towards the lab where Donatello could check her over properly. Daisy, upon seeing her mother, screamed for her and started to run towards her with tears spilling down her cheeks. Raphael caught his little girl and lifted her into his arms as Amelia was taken to the lab, leaving Daisy even more distressed.

"I know why Mama fell down..." Daisy sniffled quietly, looking to her father with those big, tearful blue eyes of hers as more sobs escaped her lips, "She forgets to eat her dinner sometimes. And Uncle Donnie says it's bad if you don't eat all your dinner..."

Raphael simply looked at Daisy with an expression of both sorrow and defeat, and he gently pulled her closer to comfort her, rubbing her shell and kissing her bandanna clad head softly as she wrapped her arms around him, crying softly against his neck. He couldn't describe how awful he felt, knowing that his wife had gone for what could've been days without proper food, and he had no idea that she'd done so.

"Your mama's gonna be just fine, baby." He said quietly, "I promise. And thanks for coming to get me straight away. You did good, kiddo."

"I just wanted to help Mama." Daisy breathed out, kissing her father's cheek, "Can I go to her now?"

"Yeah, sure..." Raphael murmured, "I bet she wants your little brother too."

Splinter was already on his feet and approaching the pair as Raphael turned to him, and he followed them quietly to the lab, hushing Bobby-George as he started to cry again. Amelia now had a little bit of colour in her face and she was much more alert as she chewed on the fruit-filled breakfast pastry that Donatello had handed to her from his mini refrigerator. He knew it would give her a boost with her blood sugar and hopefully give her a bit more energy as well.

"Mama..." Daisy breathed, wiping at her eyes as she was sat on the medical bed with her mother, who swallowed down the last of the pastry and immediately wrapped her arms around her daughter, "I was so scared."

"I know, baby, I'm sorry..." Amelia said softly, rubbing Daisy's shell, "Thank you for going to get help for me, sweetie. You were so brave."

Daisy didn't respond. She simply leant forward and plastered herself against her mother, crying her heart out into her chest. Amelia was now upset herself, and she wrapped her arms around her child to try and soothe her. As she did so, she also tried to swallow down the guilt at the realisation of what trauma she'd just put her child through.

* * *

Daisy's lessons for the next week had been cancelled to let Amelia get some rest. The family also wanted to give Daisy a break from her lessons and to give her some time to do what she wanted, and also to bond with her baby brother. That afternoon, Raphael was taking the time to sit with Daisy at the coffee table while she did some drawing and colouring, and he'd even coloured some of the pages of her colouring book with her when she'd asked him to. He looked over to see her folding a new piece of paper in half, and she started to draw on one side of it. He saw her draw a flower and a sunshine with a smiley face, which she then coloured in very carefully, trying to stay within the lines.

"What are you making, sweetie?" He asked her, leaning across to look at the paper.

"A card for Mama." Daisy replied quietly, continuing to colour the paper, "It might make her feel happier, 'cause she's not been happy for a while."

"You think she's unhappy?" Raphael asked again, feeling worry once again settle into his chest.

"She cries sometimes." Daisy told him, causing his family to look around at the pair as she continued to draw, "She goes in the bathroom and cries. I think it's 'cause me an' Bobby-George need stuff all the time. No-one takes care of Mama. So I'm gonna make her this card, and then I'm gonna get her some milk and cookies. 'Cause milk and cookies make everyone feel better, right?"

Raphael gazed at his little girl with astonishment as she nonchalantly continued to colour, unable to believe that at just four years old, she'd been able to see what none of his family had. ' _No-one takes care of Mama_ '... The words stung him so much that he wanted the ground to swallow him up out of pure shame and guilt. He looked up at his father, Michelangelo and Leonardo, who all were sharing the same horrified and stunned expression that he was.

"Daisy, I swear that we're all gonna look after your mama." Raphael said gently, "We're all gonna do our best to take care of her, okay?"

"I know, Daddy." Daisy said quietly, writing ' _Get Well Soon'_ in big, red letters that were scrawled haphazardly across the front of the card, "Will you help me write some nice words for her?"

She opened the paper up to the blank inside, looking up at her father expectantly with those big blue eyes that reminded him so much of Amelia that it brought a lump to his throat. Raphael smiled warmly at her, nodded and then leant down to kiss her head as they came up with something nice to write on the card for Amelia, who was still being monitored by Donatello. April was texting constantly to make sure that her surrogate sister was okay, so while Michelangelo kept up communications with her, and while Leonardo held his sleeping nephew, Raphael and his little girl put the lovely card together.

In the end, they came up with a sweet message that Daisy had written in her best handwriting, and she'd put everyone's name at the bottom of the card, even Bobby-George's. It read:

" _Mama,_

 _We all love you so much, and we hope you feel better soon. We're going to take care of you, and we're going to do our best to make you smile every day. You're the best mama ever."_

After Leonardo had taken Bobby-George to be with his mother, Daisy and Raphael got the milk and cookies ready before making their way to the lab, where Amelia was resting in the medical bed, tenderly kissing and cuddling her son who snuffled and wriggled in his sleep. Daisy smiled brightly and spoke chirpily to her mother, handing her the plate of cookies and the card as Raphael set the milk on the table that Donatello had brought to the side of the bed.

Amelia read the card with tears in her eyes, looking at her little girl who was being lifted up and onto the bed by Raphael so that she could sit with her mother. Her heart clenched in her chest at the words, feeling pure joy for the first time since Bobby-George had hatched from his egg a month earlier. It was the simplest of gestures, but it meant so much to her that her little girl had wanted to do something just to make sure that she knew she was loved.

"Thank you so much, sweetie..." She breathed, pulling Daisy closer to kiss her, "This is beautiful. I'm going to put it on the table here with my cookies."

"Are you gonna be able to get out of bed soon?" Daisy asked, absently moving to play with her mother's long, honey-blonde locks, "We miss you out there!"

Amelia laughed and the sound was like music to Raphael's ears, so bright and so full of love that the red-banded turtle instinctively reached out and started to rub her leg, just so that he could touch her and feel her. He missed the sound of that laughter and the sparkle in her eyes that made her look so angelic and so unbelievably beautiful.

"I think your Uncle Donnie said I can get out of bed whenever I want to, but I'm still feeling very tired." Amelia explained sweetly, stroking the fabric of the bandanna that Daisy was wearing.

"Well, I was thinkin' that I could get you some pillows and a blanket, and maybe Daddy can put you on the sofa or somethin'. Then we can be together but you can rest." Daisy suggested, clasping her hands in front of her, "I'll even sing you to sleep if you want."

"You're so thoughtful, Daisy." Amelia said with emotion in her voice and fresh tears in her eyes, "Do you know that? You're just wonderful. And I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mama." Daisy whispered, closing her eyes as her mother kissed her forehead, "So, will you come with us?"

"I will." Amelia replied with a smile, "But, only if you promise to get snuggled up with me on the couch. I need my babies right now."

"I promise!" Daisy squealed, her eyes now alight with joy, "I'll go get some pillows and your blanket."

Raphael broke into a laugh and caught Daisy under her arms as she wriggled her way off of the medical bed, and she bolted out of the lab to go and do as she'd said. Donatello, who was preparing another bottle of Bobby-George's formula, looked at Raphael with a worried expression as the red-clad turtle grabbed his wife's free hand and kissed it lovingly before he moved to embrace her too.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, moving his free hand to run his thumb over Bobby-George's head, "I had no idea you weren't getting to eat. Why didn't you say something?"

Amelia didn't answer him because she was just too upset about the whole situation to formulate words. It wasn't that she didn't have time to eat. Well... In a sense it was, but she was more focused on taking care of her children. She was worried and had been worried since Bobby-George had hatched that she wasn't doing a good job, and primarily, she was worried about not being able to provide the best care and all the love and attention that her babies needed. Raphael's words to her two weeks before had caused her no end of distress, and even though she'd tried to tell herself he hadn't meant a word, she couldn't help but feel that there may have been some truth in his attack on her during their fight. She felt like a failure ninety percent of the time, and she didn't feel able to confide in any of her family about that.

"Sweetheart, look at me." Raphael pulled up a chair, used one hulking arm to pull Amelia towards him and then sat down beside her, keeping his arm around her and his hand in hers, "Please, look at me..."

She almost couldn't bear to, but she swallowed down her pride and looked up at him, unashamed of the tears in her eyes and the red blotches on her face that came whenever she was upset. Raphael visibly winced in response to seeing her in tears, and he held her hand tighter as he pulled her even closer with his arm, tenderly stroking her waist to try and comfort her.

"I know this is my fault. I know damn well that it is. But, you gotta know that I didn't say what I said a couple of weeks ago because it was true... I said it to... I said it to hurt you." Raphael explained, looking into his wife's devastated eyes with a huge lump knotted into his throat and with guilt eating itself through his stomach, "And I know how bad a person I am for doing that to you. I was so mad that I wasn't thinking straight, and I know that the reason you're here right now and the reason you haven't been eating is because of me. I know how hard you've been pushing yourself because you did the same when Daisy was born. But, please, don't hurt yourself anymore... I'm begging you, darlin'..."

Amelia swallowed hard, trying not to lose complete control of her emotions in front of him. Raphael saw his brother slowly step out of the lab to leave them to it because he clearly realised how private and how difficult a conversation like this would be for both Amelia and Raphael. It wasn't Donatello's place to listen to that, so he helped Daisy get the couch ready for her mother instead and made sure to keep the others out of the lab.

"I don't know what I can do to make it better... But, you have to know how sorry I am for saying those things to you. I really am sorry." Raphael whispered, his voice thick with emotion and full of sincerity, "You mean the world to me. I'm nothing without you, and I'm nothing without our babies. You gotta know that. I love you so, so much."

Amelia removed her hand from his and placed it against his lips to silence him. She had been so hurt by him during that fight, and she knew that he'd done his best to try and reconcile with her after the things he'd said. It was painfully obvious that he was so remorseful for what he'd said and done during that fight, and she'd tried to reassure him that it was alright and he was forgiven, but for her own reasons, she'd found it difficult to let go.

"I know you're sorry." She said, choking back a sob, "I know you feel bad. I know you love me. I love you too. And I said some hurtful things to you during that fight as well... But you're not reacting to it the way I have. I'm not as strong as you, I know that. I have to work through it in my own time. But, the reason that I'm here is because I neglected my own needs for the sake of my children because I'm terrified of being a bad mother. The blame for that lies at my own mother's door. Not yours."

"Let me tell you something." Raphael whispered harshly, his voice now containing a hint of anger that Amelia could sense was not directed at her, "You're one of the strongest people I've ever met in my life. You're the best mother I could ever want for my kids... And I promise you, with all my heart, we are going to take care of you more. All of us. You need rest and you need to be taken care of too, baby, you have to accept that."

Amelia felt him tenderly brush a falling tear from her face, and as Bobby-George snuffled in his sleep, his little legs kicking in his blanket, Amelia was distracted from her upset enough to pull him closer and kiss him lovingly on the side of his head.

"I know I need help with the children, and I know I need help with the housework, but I just don't like to ask." She spoke the words so quietly that Raphael almost didn't hear her, "I hate to put you guys out because you have your own things to be doing."

"Well, in future, I want you to suck it up and ask for the help when you need it." Raphael said gently, "I mean, I'm supposed to be the stubborn one, not you."

Amelia laughed at his words, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she moved to give her husband a gentle kiss on his cheek. A knock on the shutter of the lab caught their attention, and they looked up to see Daisy walking towards them, holding onto Donatello's hand which completely engulfed her tiny one. She announced that the couch was ready, so Donatello took Bobby-George while Raphael eased Amelia out of bed to take her through to the sitting area. The fainting episode had made her quite unwell, and she was very shaky on her feet when Raphael managed to get her stood up, so he carefully supported her as they headed out to the living area.

Daisy carried the cookies and card towards the coffee table while Donatello followed with Bobby-George and the glass of milk. When Amelia was settled on the couch, Raphael moved the coffee table back so that Daisy could put the cookies, card and milk down, which Donatello handed to her. Daisy then busied herself with plumping Amelia's pillows, and after she'd finished, she climbed onto the couch to lie between her mother's legs for a cuddle. Donatello set Bobby-George on Amelia's chest, and then Raphael covered his family with the huge blanket that Vern had given Daisy for her fourth birthday.

Raphael was then content to sit on the floor beside the couch, watching over his family until finally, his girls and his little boy got some well-deserved, and much needed sleep.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 9:**

 **Tender**

 **Bathtub**

 **Cold**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!  
**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	9. In Sickness

**Chapter Summary:** Raphael is bedridden with a horrendous cold, and Amelia discovers that being sick seems to bring out a more sentimental side of her husband's personality.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ or its characters. I only own my OCs.

 **A/N:** Hi, guys! I'm so sorry this has taken so long to update. I've been trying to work on the sequel to ' _Salvation_ ' which has been very time-consuming. I'm having issues at the moment with finding the energy to write and with my business getting busier, it's very difficult to actually sit down and write. But, I am getting there! I'm half way through chapter thirteen of that story and I predict another seven or so before it's finished. I'll still wait until it's done to publish it because I'd hate to start publishing it and then stop part way through because I haven't finished it. Thanks to everyone who's waiting for that story! Your patience is amazing! Since I had one vote per prompt for this chapter, I decided to do a random draw where I wrote the prompts down, put them in a box and shook them up, then picked one out. The prompt I chose was ' _Cold_ '. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for all the support so far.

 **Alex:** I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! Thanks for voting.

 **PandASMRebirth:** I have never received a review so wonderful before. It literally brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and for supporting me. It means the world to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **rinpup14:** Yeah, I was hoping that last chapter would hit you guys in the feels. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

 **The Silvernote:** Thanks for the offer and thanks for the support with my TMNT fics so far! You've been amazing, hun! I'll message if I have any ideas I want to run past you. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

 **Stephanie Phelps:** I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the vote!

Happy reading!

* * *

 **~ In Sickness ~**

 **Prompt:** Cold

 **Daisy's Age:** 5 Years Old

 **Bobby George's Age:** 1 Year Old

Raphael _hated_ being sick.

With a pounding headache, blocked sinuses, a sore throat, a bad cough and a fever, Raphael was stuck in bed trying to sleep off the horrendous cold he was currently suffering with. He'd been like this for a week and he wasn't getting any better, so Amelia had gone as far as asking Donatello to take a look at him because she was growing worried that this was more serious than just a cold. Donatello had concluded that it was just a bad cold and that Raphael needed to fight it on his own, only to be met with a very disgruntled huff from his older brother, who was now just plain fed up with being ill.

Donatello, who was still in a very positive state of mind after he and April had married the month before, didn't take the reaction to heart and simply told his brother to suck it up because he was probably going to be lumbered with his illness a little while longer. When Donatello left, Amelia moved to her husband's side as he started to have a violent coughing fit, and she grabbed the spare box of tissues from their Ottoman to put on the bedside table for him. He'd already gone through several boxes that week, and Amelia was expecting to have to go out and get some more within the next few days.

"Sweetie, can I get you anything?" She asked softly, resting the back of her hand against his forehead which was absolutely soaked with sweat, despite his shivers, "This fever's ridiculous. It should've gone by now."

"You gonna take my temperature again, nurse?" He asked her, looking at her with rather lecherous eyes, which Amelia hadn't expected to see.

"If you think I'm gonna have sex with you while you're like this, you're very much mistaken." Amelia laughed brightly, amused by his attempts to flirt with her, "I might actually finish you off."

"Wouldn't be a bad way to go." Raphael replied croakily, coughing once again as Amelia moved to the small bowl of water that she'd brought in with her earlier that morning, "What are you doing?"

"Cooling you down." Amelia answered, wringing out the washcloth that sat in the bowl before returning to her husband's side, sitting next to him carefully on the bed.

She placed the cloth against his forehead, gently moving it across as she left it against his skin for a few seconds at a time. She then slowly moved to dab his neck and upper chest, which were also soaked with sweat. Raphael watched her expression as it fell into one of upset and distress, her eyes clouding with a worry that he'd only seen a handful of times. The last time he saw her looking like this was when he'd come back from patrol with a leg injury that she'd insisted on fixing herself, and no matter how many times he got hurt, and no matter how minor the injury, she _never_ got used to it.

He'd only ever been bedridden with illness once in all the time he'd known her, and it was very rare that he was sick anyway, but it upset her no end when he was unwell. She was trying to care for him while also caring for Daisy and Bobby-George, but Raphael knew his family were helping out as much as they could, and thankfully, Amelia was allowing them to. It still hurt him to see her looking so upset, especially when he knew there was nothing that he could do to make her feel better about the situation.

"Is that better?" She asked him softly.

"Yeah. Thanks." Raphael murmured, reaching up to brush a loose strand of his wife's hair behind her ear.

She'd tied her honey-blonde locks up into a bun, as she usually did these days, and no matter how hard she tried to keep all her hair out of her face, there was always the odd strand that just managed to escape her clutches. She often cursed her thick hair but Raphael always made her feel better when he told her how gorgeous it was. She really was such a beautiful woman and she was only growing more beautiful with each passing day. His love for her could only grow, and he was sure it would continue to do so until he took his last breath.

A small knock at the shutter to their bedroom caused them to startle, but Amelia gathered herself together very quickly and wasted no time in going to see who was there. She opened the door to find her daughter standing there with a bottle of questionable looking liquid in one hand and her doll held in the other. Leonardo was approaching behind her with a steaming cup held in his hands, and he offered Amelia a reassuring smile as he drew closer to them. Amelia was very thankful for Leonardo. He was always there to offer guidance and reassurance to her if she needed it and without him, she was sure her life would be a lot more stressful than it was.

"I brought some special medicine for Daddy from Uncle Donnie and Papa." Daisy said quietly, "Uncle Leo has some special tea that Papa made to help Daddy sleep."

"Oh, sweetie, that's so nice of you." Amelia said softly, "Do you want to come in and see Daddy?"

"Is he getting better?" Daisy asked, a worried expression crossing her little face.

Amelia shook her head, stroking her hand over her daughter's which was covered with a purple and white floral headscarf, which she'd picked out herself that morning. Daisy stepped inside the room quietly, approaching the bed carefully as Amelia and Leonardo followed behind her, also taking great care to not cause too much noise since Raphael had such an awful headache. The hulking turtle was coughing again, and Daisy watched her father with wide, frightened eyes as he managed to recuperate, his chest heaving for breath. He saw the distressed look on her face and tried to get himself together so he could reassure her that it wasn't as bad as it sounded.

"Hi, baby." He croaked out, smiling at her tiredly, "How're you doing?"

"I miss you, Daddy." She said quietly, "I brought you some special medicine."

"Oh, you did, huh?" Raphael asked, watching her place the unusual liquid on the bedside table as Amelia moved back to his side and started to dab his face and neck again.

"Papa and Uncle Donnie made it." Daisy explained with a weak, forced smile, "And Papa made some special tea for you so you can go to sleep."

Leonardo put the tea down beside the medicine before putting his hand on Daisy's shoulder, squeezing it to soothe her. She was clearly upset by how sick her father looked, and the sight of her mother hovering over him wasn't making her feel any better. Her daddy _never_ got sick. Leonardo let out a sigh of worry and shook his head, looking at his brother with concern. Raphael had been seriously sick maybe a handful of times in his life, and he hadn't been this bad since he was five years old, and Leonardo still remembered, even after all these years, how frightened their father was for him at that time.

"How are you feeling?" The older brother asked, watching Amelia continue to try and cool Raphael down some more with all the tenderness and care that could be expected of her.

"Not very good." Raphael replied, giving Leonardo a rather familiar look.

When Raphael wanted to swear but couldn't due to the presence of his children, there was a certain look he'd give the person he was speaking to, and they'd be able to translate what he said into what he was actually thinking pretty easily. ' _Not very good_ ' probably meant, ' _absolutely fucking awful_ ', but Leonardo knew that Raphael was restraining himself for the sake of Daisy who was standing there looking rather forlorn.

"Are you gonna be able to get out of bed soon, Daddy?"

"I don't know, little flower." Raphael said quietly, still trying to catch his breath.

"Daddy's still very sick, sweetie." Amelia told her, "He'll get better, but it's going to take a little longer than we thought."

"Well, Uncle Donnie said you should take your medicine as soon as you can." Daisy offered, watching her father break into coughs again, "He said it should make your cough go away."

"That'd be good." Raphael choked, taking the bottle of water that Amelia offered him to take a long drink.

Daisy then climbed onto the bed as her father was given the tea to drink as well. It was cool enough and he took a nice big drink out of that, which gave Amelia the opportunity to rearrange his pillows a bit more so he could sleep comfortably. He was so exhausted, though, that she figured he could sleep in any position and be just fine, but she'd rather make him comfortable anyway. Leonardo watched her as she worked and he couldn't help but admire not only her kindness and love for his brother but also her patience. Raphael could be a nightmare when he was sick.

"Do you want me to sing you to sleep, Daddy?" Daisy asked, taking his hand to start massaging it with both of her much smaller ones.

"That's okay, sweetie. I'm getting tired already." Raphael replied, reaching with his spare hand to stroke her head before turning to Leonardo and whispering, "What the hell did Dad put in that?"

"I have no idea. Why?" Leonardo asked with a smirk.

Before he could get an answer, Raphael was out like a light. Amelia stared at him for a moment with both surprise and concern before turning to Leonardo, who smiled quite proudly and nodded in approval at the power of his father's ' _Special Tea_ '. Amelia could only wonder what Splinter had mixed together to get Raphael to sleep so quickly. Nevertheless, she was more than happy that her husband was finally getting some much-needed sleep.

"Oh... That really _is_ special tea." Daisy remarked, moving to kiss her father's clammy cheek before hopping off the bed, her previous concern seemingly forgotten, "Are you comin' downstairs, Mama?"

Amelia looked worriedly at Raphael for a moment, but she figured he'd be better off getting some rest and some peace and quiet without her hovering around him. She leant down and kissed him tenderly on his temple, pulled the blankets a little further around his waist, and then headed out of the room with Leonardo and Daisy, casting one last look at her husband before going to join the rest of her family.

* * *

Bobby-George was laughing quite loudly as Amelia bounced him up and down on her knee, stopping every few seconds to quickly pull him back into her arms and blow raspberries on his plastron before continuing to bounce him again. It was a game he'd grown very fond of in recent months, and now that he was learning to talk and communicate in other ways than gurgling, he would often bounce in his seat to let whoever he was with know that he wanted to play that game. When his mother stopped bouncing him again, she saw his tiny legs squirm slightly and she looked at her little boy only to see his face scrunched up with concentration. She knew very well what that meant.

"Mama, Bobby-George is doin' his poopy face!" Daisy laughed, "Can I help change his diaper when he's done?"

"Of course you can." Amelia said with a smile, "Could you get me the mat and wipes out from under the couch, please?"

Daisy quickly got them and cleared off the coffee table carefully so she could put the mat on there, and Amelia sat Bobby George on the comfortable mat while he finished filling his diaper. She'd rather have him sitting on his mat doing it than his diaper exploding all over her like it had done before. He started to whimper pretty much as soon as he'd done, so Amelia set him on his shell and showed Daisy how to change him. She did almost everything herself, except Amelia was the one cleaning him up since Daisy thought it was too gross for her to do. Once he was in his new diaper, Daisy lifted her brother off the mat with some difficulty considering the fact that she wasn't very strong, and sat him carefully in her lap as Amelia tidied up.

The two of them got him settled down for his nap and left him in the care of his grandfather, while they both headed back upstairs to check on Raphael. The television was now turned on in Raphael and Amelia's room, so it was clear that he was awake. They headed inside carefully and quietly, only to find him lounged against his pillows, still shivering and sweating but without so much as a hint of a cough. The bottle of medicine was about a quarter empty, so Amelia knew he must've taken some.

"Hi, Daddy!" Daisy breathed out excitedly, getting onto the bed to sit with her father, "I changed Bobby-George's diaper."

"Oh, did you?" Raphael asked her with a tired grin, "Was it messy?"

"It was gross, Daddy." Daisy said earnestly, "Bobby-George is a stinky baby."

"Well, he's not anymore since you helped clean him up." Amelia said, stroking Daisy's head carefully before turning to her husband, "How was the medicine?"

"Probably the foulest thing I've ever tasted. But it's working." Raphael spoke softly as Daisy took his hand again, and Amelia took the opportunity to refill the water in the bowl she'd been using earlier, and get a fresh cloth to dab him down with, "Have you been good for your Mama, Daisy?"

"I'm always good." Daisy replied with a beaming grin, "Mama said I'm not havin' no lessons 'til you get better."

"So, what are you gonna do with your free time?" Raphael asked her.

"Take care of you, Daddy." Daisy replied warmly, "I'm gonna help Mama. It ain't fair her doing it on her own."

Raphael grinned proudly. She talked just like him, which Amelia didn't always like, but he found it pretty adorable. There was no avoiding it really. His accent was so strong that she just seemed to pick it up, so Amelia had started to accept that Daisy would be a carbon copy of her dad when it came to her language. It made the young woman dread Daisy's teenage years, especially if she picked up her dad's habit for swearing too.

"Aww, you don't have to take care of me, darlin'." Raphael told her softly, "You can go and do whatever you want to. Mama's got your uncles and aunt helping out, not to mention your Papa."

"No, I wanna take care of you." Daisy said stubbornly as Amelia returned to the room.

"She's determined, you know." The blonde smirked, moving towards the bed with the water, "Now, you need to lie back for me so I can try and cool you down."

"But he's shaking, Mama." Daisy said worriedly.

"It's 'cause I have a fever, little flower." Raphael said soothingly, his voice still croaking as he spoke, "It's okay. Mama knows what she's doing."

"That's 'cause Mama's clever, Daddy." Daisy said, massaging her father's hand as she had earlier.

"Your Mama's one of the smartest people I know." Raphael told his daughter proudly, closing his eyes as Amelia started to gently dab his skin with the cool washcloth, "That's one of the things I love most about her."

"What else do you love about her, Daddy?" Daisy asked, concentrating on her massage.

Raphael and Amelia shared a look. There were many things that Raphael loved about that woman that he couldn't repeat to his daughter. He loved Amelia's ability to talk dirty and flirtatiously whenever she wanted to without any awkwardness, he loved the fact that she knew just where to touch him to get his blood flowing. He loved the way her hands would hold him and touch him when they were in bed together. Even though he was sick, and feeling like hell, he could easily lay her down on their bed and have his way with her.

"Well... I love a lot of things about her." Raphael said with a smile, "I think I actually fell in love with your Mama the first time I saw her and didn't even realise. She's got the most beautiful eyes I ever saw. And you know what, baby? You've got eyes just like hers."

Daisy giggled, looking up at her father from her place on the bed with flushed cheeks at his compliment, which she understood even at such a young age.

"I love the way your Mama smiles. I love her laugh. I love hearing her voice, even if she's complaining at me for something." Raphael continued, despite his sore throat, "I love the colour of her skin and her hair. I love the way she walks, I love how sweet and kind she is. I love how strong she is. 'Cause if there's one thing you need to know about your Mama, Daisy, it's how strong she is."

"She's not as strong as you, Daddy." Daisy said, quite clearly referring to their physical size differences.

"Oh, your Mama's a lot stronger than me." Raphael said with a fond smile, "She's amazing. I love her, I love you and I love Bobby-George more than you're ever gonna know."

"What do you love about me?" Daisy asked him with a cheeky grin.

"Everything, baby." He told her as she released his hand, which allowed him to then gently rub her shell lovingly, "You mean the world to me."

Daisy was very satisfied with that response, and on that note, she kissed her father's hand, hopped off the bed and then left the room to go and find her uncles. Once she'd gone, Raphael looked at Amelia, who was clearly trying to fight back her emotions after what he'd just told their daughter about her.

"I didn't know that being sick made you so sentimental." She said with a beaming grin.

"Shut up." He grumbled playfully, closing his eyes with a grin as she pressed a kiss to his forehead in a loving, lingering motion.

"I love you." Amelia told him, her tone sincere and warm as she continued to dab his skin with the washcloth.

"I love you too." Raphael answered, looking at her with nothing but adoration in his eyes.

Amelia continued to stroke his skin with the washcloth and was content to do so until he finally fell into another very deep and much-needed sleep.

* * *

 **Prompts for Chapter 10:**

 **Stubborn**

 **Worth**

 **Fuss**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Thanks for reading so far!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


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